Sir James

Report: Independence Air may shut down on Jan. 7

WASHINGTON (AP) — The parent company of Independence Air will shut down the airline and begin laying off workers on Jan. 7 unless a major buyer or investor comes forward, a report said Thursday.
Flyi sought bankruptcy protection in November. Flyi sought bankruptcy protection in November.
Paul J. Richards, AFP/Getty Images

Flyi, which owns the discount airline, warned of the coming deadline in a letter to unionized pilots, flight attendants and mechanics, according to The Washington Post. Without a "significant external investment," the airline will stop flying, the newspaper reported.

Asked about the letter on Thursday, Valerie Wunder, an Independence Air spokeswoman, said, "No certain action is bound to occur on any certain date." The airline is in discussions about its options, she said, and continues to accept customer reservations for travel as normal.

"The company believes there is no absolute deadline in place at this time," she said.

Flyi filed for bankruptcy protection in November, saying at that time that it hoped a court-supervised auction would attract a new investor within the next 60 days.

Chief Executive Kerry Skeen has said the airline suffered from bad timing, going independent as the airline industry deals with record fuel prices and extreme shortfalls in revenue.

While Flyi is a major presence at it Dulles Airport hub in suburban Chantilly, Va., it is a significantly smaller carrier than the three major U.S. airlines now operating under bankruptcy protection — United, Delta and Northwest Airlines.

FlyerJosh

In reality the airline has suffered from bad management and the continual failure to use some common business sense, set realistic and achievable goals, and follow through on basic strategies.

The airline unfortunately has done nothing more than "dabble" in ideas, without actually committing the time to see if any of those ideas actually worked. Instead if there weren't instant results, the plan was changed. Unfortunately it often takes a few months to see things start to fall into place.

Of course flying eight flights a day to places like Huntsville and Lansing didn't help either...

B757200ER

Amen, Josh. You can also add $29 dollar fares (WAAAY below cost), $60+/barrel oil and flying high-cost 50-seat CRJs on routes competing with 130-seat 737s.

The employees deserve better; management committed economic suicide.