The North Carolina Piedmont Triad's top go-to source for News
A service of the News & Record, Greensboro, North Carolina
« An anxious scene at rush hour | Main | Gun competition ban »
Here's a link to my video interview with former Skybus CEO Bill Diffenderffer in early December 2007.
He was so supremely confident back then that it's still hard to believe the now-defunct airline came and went so fast.
These are tough times for the entirei industry. Three airlines have gone under in the last two weeks.
Due to recent automated spamming attacks on our blogs, we are temporarily requiring commenters to authenticate themselves via TypeKey® before posting comments to any News & Record blog in order to prevent denials of service. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience.
Comments (4)
To report abuse of the comment feature on this site, please use the feedback form at the bottom of any page.
Shoulda gone with the gliders.
Posted on April 7, 2008 12:28 PM
Diffenderfer did not have operational experience. The Skybus model is valid. Skybus was the best funded startup airline in U.S. History. Yet it failed in less than one year of operations because of mismanagement not oil prices or the economy. SKybus failed as a result of poor employee relationships (pilots were ready to unionize); overly agressive expansion;iving routes time to mature; expansion of routes based on whim rather than research (e.g. Niagra Falls, Hudson Valley, New York, Chatanooga, TN., Gary, Indiana) poorly trained ground crews, new routes announced and then discontinued or cutback before and after tickets were sold, poor scheduling of aircraft, stranded passengers caused by mishandling of equipment by poorly trained ground crews and overly aggressive flight scheduling, route cancellations after tickets were sold and so on. As a result of these numerous failures of managment, the flying public lost confidence that Skybus could get them to point A to point B on time or anytime. As a result, forward bookings dropped dramatically. The founder says he can turn it around. I hope he gets the opportunity because the model is sound.
Posted on April 8, 2008 10:18 AM
Diffenderfer did not have operational experience. The Skybus model is valid. Skybus was the best funded startup airline in U.S. History. Yet it failed in less than one year of operations because of mismanagement not oil prices or the economy. SKybus failed as a result of poor employee relationships (pilots were ready to unionize); overly agressive expansion;iving routes time to mature; expansion of routes based on whim rather than research (e.g. Niagra Falls, Hudson Valley, New York, Chatanooga, TN., Gary, Indiana) poorly trained ground crews, new routes announced and then discontinued or cutback before and after tickets were sold, poor scheduling of aircraft, stranded passengers caused by mishandling of equipment by poorly trained ground crews and overly aggressive flight scheduling, route cancellations after tickets were sold and so on. As a result of these numerous failures of managment, the flying public lost confidence that Skybus could get them to point A to point B on time or anytime. As a result, forward bookings dropped dramatically. The founder says he can turn it around. I hope he gets the opportunity because the model is sound.
Posted on April 8, 2008 10:18 AM
Diffenderfer did not have operational experience. The Skybus model is valid. Skybus was the best funded startup airline in U.S. History. Yet it failed in less than one year of operations because of mismanagement not oil prices or the economy. SKybus failed as a result of poor employee relationships (pilots were ready to unionize); overly agressive expansion; not giving routes time to mature; expansion of routes based on whim rather than research (e.g. Niagra Falls, Hudson Valley, New York, Chatanooga, TN., Gary, Indiana) poorly trained ground crews, new routes announced and then discontinued or cutback before and after tickets were sold, poor scheduling of aircraft, stranded passengers caused by mishandling of equipment by poorly trained ground crews and overly aggressive flight scheduling, route cancellations after tickets were sold and so on. As a result of these numerous failures of managment, the flying public lost confidence that Skybus could get them to point A to point B on time or anytime. As a result, forward bookings dropped dramatically. The founder says he can turn it around. I hope he gets the opportunity because the model is sound.
Posted on April 8, 2008 10:20 AM