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Independence Air to Shut Down on Thursday

Independence Air to Shut Down on Thursday, Less Than 19 Months After Taking to Skies


WASHINGTON (AP) -- Less than 19 months after Independence Air took to the skies, the low-cost carrier has announced that will shut down at 7 p.m. this Thursday.
"We are voluntarily discontinuing scheduled service," Kerry Skeen, Independence Air's chairman and chief executive officer, said in a written statement issued Monday.
The financially troubled airline filed for bankruptcy protection in November. Parent company FLYi, Inc., warned last week that it would cease operating this Saturday if it was unable to find a major investor or buyer.
"There has not been a firm offer put forward that meets the financial criteria necessary to continue operations," Skeen said.
Airline officials are trying to contact customers with roundtrip reservations who are slated to return after Thursday night in an effort to arrange their return travel earlier.
The company is trying to get bankruptcy court approval for the automatic refund of fares for return flights that are not rescheduled, as well as flights booked for after Friday and beyond. There will be no refunds for vouchers or free tickets.
The airline was formerly known as Atlantic Coast Airlines, a regional carrier for United Express, when management decided to form a discount carrier. Following a year of planning, flights began on June 16, 2004, with great fanfare at its hub at Washington Dulles International Airport, about 30 miles west of Washington. A water cannon salute greeted the first outbound plane on what was then a schedule of 39 departures. The first flight to Atlanta was full.
Since then, Independence expanded, but in recent months was forced to drop several markets. Its 2,700 employees operate 200 daily flights to 37 destinations.
The airline competed against discount carriers JetBlue Airways Corp., AirTran Holdings Inc. and UAL Corp.'s Ted from its Dulles hub. It also faced major competition from Southwest Airlines Co. which flies out of Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport.

Independence Air Set to Take Final Flight

Like Eastern, TWA and Pan Am before it, Independence Air flew into the history books Thursday.
"It's very emotional for a lot of our people and our customers," said Rick DeLisi, an airline spokesman, hours before the last flight was due to depart for Washington Dulles International Airport from White Plains, N.Y.
DeLisi was among about 2,600 Independence Air workers facing unemployment. He said both employees and customers were saddened by the loss of the low fare carrier, and that thousands of phone messages and e-mails have come into the company's headquarters since the shutdown announcement was made Monday.
"Almost all of them say the same thing, which is, 'we're really sorry that you're leaving and we enjoyed flying with you.' We feel the same way," DeLisi said.
At many of the airports served by Independence, workers and customers expressed similar sentiments.
"We kind of figured something was going to happen, and you have to expect the worst outcome. You don't want to hear it. It's hard to deal with," said Jean Brennan, who was behind the Independence Air check-in counter at Dulles.
Independence Air began operations nearly 19 months ago as former executives from Atlantic Coast Airlines tried to turn a contract carrier for Delta and United into a discount airline that would eventually serve 36 markets from its Dulles hub. Parent company FLYi, Inc., filed for bankruptcy Nov. 7.
Planes operated at 50 percent to 75 percent of capacity on many routes this week, as the airline worked to accommodate ticket holders.
Passenger Shirley Blaes, a retired teacher, was headed back to Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport in South Carolina from Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, Conn. She said she flew Independence Air for the first time to visit her children for the holidays.
"I thought it was really very nice," she said. "Everything went right on time. The people were very friendly."
In between checking in passengers for a flight to Dulles on Thursday, four employees at Bradley posed for photographs in front of the Independence Air sign.
"It's a very sad day," said Deb Dusseault. "Everybody's so sad. That's a good thing, I guess. At least we were well-received."
"It's a shame because we offered a real good product," added co-worker Pete Huckabee.
By Thursday night, the carrier's fleet of 42 planes — 12 132-seat Airbus A-319 jetliners and 30 smaller 50-seat Bombardier CRJ jets — will have landed at Dulles. At its peak, the carrier operated about 87 aircraft.
Analysts said Thursday that high fuel costs and low passenger loads in the months preceding the bankruptcy filing prompted the company to reduce its ambitious flight schedule. Some markets which once had a dozen or more flights each day were served by only a few flights in recent days.
"We're losing an airline that brought super low fares to America," said Tom Parsons, president of Dallas-based Bestfares.com. "Those super low fares put them into bankruptcy, too."
He predicted that markets not served by discount carriers jetBlue, Spirit, AirTran or Southwest will be among the first cities formerly served by Independence Air to see significant air fare increases.
"From Charleston, S.C., to Portland, Maine, those folks are going to wish for Independence Air to be back," said Parsons, who predicts some fares will double.
Over the next few weeks, about 180 employees will work to liquidate or secure the company's assets. At Dulles, that will involve cleaning out equipment at 35 gates and 18 ticket counters. Some of those jobs could last up to six months.
On Friday, some former employees will attend a job fair at the company's Dulles headquarters.