SkyValue CEO Darrell Richardson relaxed Friday in the last row of seats on a Boeing 737 with the satisfied look of a man whose child had just graduated from college. For four years, the industry veteran and former CEO of PACE Airlines had dreamed of landing an airline in Gary. On Friday, with the takeoff of SkyValue Flight 511 from Gary/Chicago International to Mesa, Ariz., that dream became reality. "It takes so much to make it happen," Richardson after a catered continental breakfast served to all 98 passengers. "There's just so many pieces of the puzzle that have to come together." That didn't keep Richardson from looking ahead Friday, particularly when it comes to Williams Gateway Airport, SkyValue's Mesa destination.
Williams Gateway officials have expressed "a real desire" for flights from their airport to Los Angeles, Richardson said. Once Gary is established as a successful operations base for SkyValue, the airline might be able to oblige. "Williams has been a real surprise, it's our biggest seller at this point," Richardson said. SkyValue has a goal of filling an average of 75 percent of the 174 seats on planes, Richardson said. That is the standard for profitability for most main-line carriers. Some airline analysts have pointed out SkyValue could probably be profitable with a load factor less than that. In addition to Williams Gateway, SkyValue flies to three Florida airports: Ft. Lauderdale/Hollywood International, St. Petersburg/Clearwater International and Orlando International. It also flies to Las Vegas/McCarran International.
The Gary airport on Friday had more good news, which airport director Chris Curry received on the flight back from Mesa. Xtra Airways, which supplies the jet and crews for SkyValue flights, decided to take a Boeing 737-400 jet based at Louisville International Airport and transfer it to Gary. The jet is used for charter groups that depart from airports around the United States. "We can make some money on the flight, and it also provides our airport with a certain appearance, having another big jet there," Curry said.
The airport rolled its offer of parking for Xtra Airways jets into the SkyValue contract. Curry had been hopeful the Elko, Nev.-based airline might take Gary up on its offer. The plane flew in for the first time over the weekend. That means three Boeing 737s are using Gary as their base. Boeing Corp. houses its own corporate Boeing business jet there, which is a 737 set up as a virtual flying office.
The airport's revenue from hosting the Xtra Airlines charter jet would come mainly from landing and fueling fees, with the airport collecting 5 cents on every gallon of jet fuel pumped this year. That charge goes up to 7 cents next year. The big Boeing jet can hold approximately 6,000 gallons of fuel, so each fill-up can mean an approximately $400 tip for the airport, in addition to landing and parking fees. It also means Xtra Airways could give some consideration to running charters out of Gary in the future, Curry said
WRRB/Telegram District City Council Forum 10/18
-
This forum is for all district council candidates; all candidates are here
today. Format: 14 total questions, 4 questions across districts (for all
candida...
6 months ago
2 comments:
I was just looking at flightaware and here are a few thing ive noticed:
1) When I clicked on the flight history, it says the name of the airline is "Xtra Airways" and go under the call sign "Ruby Mountain"
2) Their flight numbers are wierd, ie. CXP522 has both the return flight from PIE and FLL, as well as a few charter flights.
3) Ive seen 737-400's operate, however they say their fleet is all 737-800's. Could these 737-400's be from PACE?
4) There are a couple charter flights before December 15, the day SkyValue initially launched.
Dave:
I believe the CEO of SkyValue use to work, maybe even be the President of Pace, so I would not doubt if he not only leases planes from Xtra but Pace as well.
Post a Comment