Sky Value

Sky Value, the company bringing flights between Williams Gateway Airport and Gary, Ind., will receive about $70,000 in public money for marketing.The Mesa Convention and Visitors Bureau will chip in $50,000 and about $20,000 will come from the airport, said Robert Brinton, the bureau's executive director. The bureau's contribution comes from bed tax revenue.

Decisions about who does creative work and other jobs needed in the marketing effort are being worked out, Brinton said. "This is such a fast-track situation that we're on the move trying to figure out the best way to do each of those things," he said. Service is scheduled to start Dec. 15.

Xtra Airways of Nevada will fly Sky Value's passengers. The tour operation will work much like any airline, with one big difference. It will follow the scheduled charter model, in which the company will deposit passenger payments into an escrow account, and then collect the money when the passenger's trip is complete. Traditional airlines, such as US Airways, receive passenger money at the time of ticket purchase.

Some airlines who have followed the scheduled charter model, such as Hooters Air, Southeast Airlines and TransMeridian Airlines, have gone out of business.However, the head of Sky Value built Pace Airlines, a successful charter airline, said Lynn Kusy, Williams Gateway's executive director. Pace continues to operate today. "We do have some confidence in the management of this group," Kusy said.

Both Southeast Airlines and Hooters Air served Gary Chicago International Airport, the airport from which Sky Value will fly to serve five destinations, including Williams Gateway. Some aviation analysts are leery about the Williams Gateway-Gary flights."Other carriers have tried serving Gary and haven't survived, so unfortunately it doesn't have a strong track record," said Steve Lott, assistant managing editor at Aviation Daily, a trade publication. "I give them credit for giving Gary a shot."

The Gary airport was not the focus of previous airlines, while it is Sky Value's focus, said Darrell Richardson, the company's chief executive officer. He also said the company's use of new airplanes sets it apart from other carriers that have tried the airport.He noted the Gary airport's free parking and proximity to Chicago.

"It's everything the passenger really wants," he said. "If you believe in Gary, you've got to believe in Williams. It's the same concept."A major selling point, Richardson said, is that both airports are smaller, secondary airports that aren't plagued by the inconveniences of larger airports, such as long security waits."You have to go through the same regulations, the only difference is you don't have 200 other flights trying to go through at the same time," he said. "People are sort of tired of going and standing in line all day."

From the airline's standpoint, using these kinds of airports makes sense because of lower costs, Aviation Daily's Lott said. But, he said the airport hassle factor comes and goes as security issues change. "I think the airport hassle factor is more of an issue for many business travelers than for leisure travelers, so I wonder how much weight that argument holds," he said. The company plans to run its service through at least April. "If these routes do well, we'll continue to fly them year round," Richardson said. "Years of study went into this program."