May 30, 2007

Skybus add Chicopee!!!

Thanks Tim MacDonald!!! Yup, you got that right Skybus adds Chicopee (Westover). Check out the story.

Chances of Skybus adding ORH, when Chicopee is so close, seem very remote at best. Not sure what deal Chicopee offered Skybus, but whatever it was we should have at least matched it. Sorry, but unlike Hooters, TransMeridian, SouthEast and SkyValue, who were undercapitalized start-ups that ended up stiffing many of the cities that they serviced, Skybus is the real deal like Allegiant.

Wow, this one really hurts.

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

Bill:

You were going to get packages of the airline recruitment done by the city(but not tell us about them) and you were going to meet with the City Manager. What is the status of both?

Did Worcester ever talk to Skybus? Does anyone know?

Anonymous said...

Let's wait and see what the Massport junta brings to us come July...


Harry Tembenis
Worcester, MA


BTW, Chicopee isn't Bradley Int. , is it?

ThrM said...

No, Bradley International is in Windsor Locks, CT. Westover houses a military reserve component and the adjacent civilian field is managed by a quasi-private organization. The POC was a gentleman named Mike Bolton, last time I called to speak to them about progress with landing commercial service.

I wonder who that blogger above named Tom is? Sounds like he has an axe to grind.

Bill Randell said...

I decided not to get the packages. The last thing I wanted was to somehow be blamed for jeopardizing negotiations with an underlying airline.

Was ORH Skybus? Of course they must have been. Why they did not choose ORH? I have no idea. I suggest you call our airport liaison or airport director. Any information that you get would be greatly appreciated if you share here.

Thanks

Bill

Anonymous said...

Bill:

Did you ever meet with the City Manager?
Thomas:
no ax to grind, just frustrated that someone was going to get information that was claimed to be public, but was not going to be shared with others. Sounds like he saw the light!

Bill Randell said...

Tom:

I decided it was not worth after a 100 comments about it. In the end, more importantly I would could blamed for undermining negotiations. It was a can't win situation.

You, however, have every right to request the information and do what you please.

Thanks

Bill

Anonymous said...

Translation-you must have met with the Manager because you have not answered the question twice and you are very concilliatory; not like you come across usually.

Anonymous said...

Tom:

I would suggest you call the airport. They were pretty open with me when I called.

Anonymous said...

Bill Randell said...

"Why they did not choose ORH?"

KCEF has an 11,000 foot runway, is 241 feet abouve sea level (not stuck up in the clouds like ORH) and is one mile from an I-90 exit.

Anonymous said...

Fuel prices are cheaper too according to Airnav link (check local prices index)

Anonymous said...

I still stick to my Massport conspiracy theory, running ORH into the ground to pick it up cheap
come June. Why announce a new airline like Skybus in the wake (no pun intended) of the Allegiant debacle? Let's see what Massport serves up on July 1...

Harry Tembenis
Worcester, MA

Anonymous said...

Boston Globe article on Skybus/Chicopee...


Skybus will add nightly flights from Chicopee
By Peter J. Howe, Globe Staff | May 31, 2007

Skybus Airlines, the ultra cheap Ohio start-up that last week became the only airline offering scheduled jet service to Portsmouth, N.H., this summer will become the only airline of any kind serving another New England destination: Chicopee.

Skybus said yesterday it will begin offering nightly flights to its Columbus hub from Westover Municipal Airport , alongside the Air Force Reserve base of the same name, on July 16. Skybus will be the first airline to offer service there since a short-lived start-up offered propeller-plane flights to LaGuardia Airport in New York for about six months in the 1980s.

As with all its flights, Skybus promises at least 10 $10 one-way tickets on every flight of its 144-seat jets, not counting taxes and fees. Its fares don't include any of the usual airline accoutrements: checked baggage, food, drink, blankets, and pillows.

Offering quick turnaround service primarily out of underutilized, inexpensive airports on the far fringes of metropolitan areas, like Westover, is another key to Skybus's plans to make a profit even charging very low fares. In addition to using Portsmouth to serve the Boston market and Westover for Springfield, and Hartford, the airline is serving Seattle and Vancouver, British Columbia, through an airport in Bellingham, Wash., and Los Angeles through Burbank, Calif. Two other July destinations it unveiled yesterday are St. Augustine, Fla., and San Diego.

Allan W. Blair , the chief executive of the Westover Metropolitan Development Corp. and head official overseeing the Chicopee airport, said, "We're really excited about the prospects for Skybus. We have every reason to think that the service will still be here and actually be enhanced 18 months from now" and beyond.

Local officials estimate 2 million people live within a 90-minute radius of the airport, among them 120,000 students at 32 colleges and two state universities for whom no-frills, low-fare air travel may be especially appealing. The airport is about two miles off the Massachusetts Turnpike.

"This creates another portal into the western New England market, and going from here, the service connects to a lot of markets like Florida and the West Coast that this market is interested in," Blair said.

However, because the flights from Chicopee to Columbus leave at 7:18 p.m., travelers looking to make outbound connections will generally have to stay overnight in Columbus and fly out the next morning. Initially airport officials expect, as has been the pattern so far at Portsmouth, more people fly Skybus in to New England from elsewhere in the country than outbound to Columbus and beyond.

Unlike Portsmouth, where parking is free, Westover officials plan to charge for parking but haven't decided how much yet.

From its heyday as a Cold War air base, Westover has one of the longest and widest runways of any airport in New England, an 11,600-foot-long, 300-foot-wide main strip used to serve huge C-5 Galaxy military transport planes.

Skybus chief executive Bill Dieffenderffer had no comment on what, if any, additional New England destinations it envisions adding but stressed that with $160 million in start-up financing, Skybus plans to keep expanding.

Peter J. Howe can be reached at howe@globe.com.





Harry Tembenis
Worcester, MA

Bill Randell said...

Harry:

I am starting to agree with this theory more and more.

Bill

Anonymous said...

Massport couldnt run ORH into the ground unless we let them, which we did.

It's been complacency for what....8 years?

Who to blame:

a. Airport commission

b. City Manager

c. Airport Liason

d. Airport director

e. City Council

f. Massport

g. All of the above

h. None of the above.


NO wait!!! The way they pass the buck, they will blame Allegiant or Bill Randell !!!


In another 3 or 4 years when Worc is bankrupt and in state receivership, we will then get commercial air service...just follow Springfields lead.


Let the cops, firemen, and teachers unions of Worc do just as they did in Springfield.

Anonymous said...

Looks like Chicopee gets the FDR museum too.

Really seems like short-sighted thinking on the part of Worcester.

Anonymous said...

this museum guy has a sense of entitlement that is 2nd only to that of the city employees. they do him a favor and basically give him almost free rent for how long and then he behaves like a spoiled little kidwhen his free gig is up. not unlike city councillors who decide they need a pay increase of 100% !

ThrM said...

Whoever posted the above is real proud of his opinion, but NOT HIS NAME...hmmmmmmmmmmm.

It's scary not being able to look yourself in the mirror, huh? Afraid of what you might see? Go grow a pair.