St. Augustine Airport to get commercial airline

[thelakelander]

A closer look at Skybus Airlines's plans



Skybus Airlines will offer cheap, no-frills flights out of St. Augustine to its hub in Columbus, Ohio, with the expectations that it will add flights from St. Augustine to other cities.

The following information is from an interview with Edward Wuellner, executive director of the St. Augustine, St. Johns County Airport Authority, and Michael Slingluff, general manager of Galaxy Aviation of St. Augustine, and from other reports:

Q: When does Skybus expect to begin flights from the St. Augustine Airport?

A: July 18.

Q: Skybus's hub is in Columbus, Ohio, but will flights from St. Augustine be offered to other destinations?

A: Not initially. For the first year, the flight from St. Augustine will only go to Columbus, Ohio. From there, fliers will be able to take another flight to other cities serviced by Skybus. The carrier hopes to add flights every year from St. Augustine to different destinations.

Q: What flights are offered from Columbus, Ohio?

A: Passengers can buy tickets to 11 other airports.

Q: Where else does Skybus offer service?

A: Skybus serves eight cities from its hub in Columbus, Ohio. It offers one flight a day to Columbus, Ohio, from Burbank, Calif.; Kansas City, Mo.; Richmond, Va.; Portsmouth, N.H.; Bellingham, Wash.; Greensboro, N.C.; Fort Lauderdale; and Oakland, Calif. St. Augustine will be the ninth city it serves.

Q: Are there connecting flights?

A: No. A passenger going from Fort Lauderdale to Oakland, say, would pay a fare for each leg of the trip and would have to collect baggage and re-enter the terminal in Columbus.

Q: Are there reserved seats?

A: No. Passengers buy tickets online, check in online or at a kiosk at the airport and board the plane. Customers pay extra to check baggage, board early, get updated flight information sent to their cell phone and for blankets and snacks.

Q: How much will the flight cost?

A: The first 10 seats booked on the 156-passenger flight cost $10, not including taxes and fees. After that, tickets can get as high as $230, depending on how far out the person books the flight.

Q: Is the flight one-way?

A: Yes. It is a nonstop flight that will leave St. Augustine at 3:09 p.m.

Q: Are travel arrangements easy?

A: They can be tricky because the airline only offers one flight a day in and out of the cities it covers. For example, the one flight out of Fort Lauderdale doesn't arrive in Columbus until 12:52 a.m., and the earliest flight out of Columbus is the 6:30 a.m. flight to Richmond.

Q: Will there be parking available at the St. Augustine Airport?

A: Yes. Northrop Grumman leases a large parking lot from the Airport Authority, but because it is hardly used, they will cut their lease and give it back to the Airport. This will give hundreds of parking spaces about 300 feet from the Skybus terminal.

Q: What do you mean it is a "no-frills" flight?

A: It's sort of like a Costco, bright and clean, but not fancy. You do everything yourself. You check yourself in through the Internet at a kiosk. If you want something to eat or drink on the plane, you buy it.

Q: Is that how Skybus keeps the flight so cheap?

A: Yes. Because it's a do-it-yourself airline, it skimps on personnel. For example, it does not have a phone number that people can call. Customers can only use e-mail. There also is no one manning a ticketing counter because customers check themselves in.

And it allows advertising on both the inside and outside of the Skybus fleet. The airline also uses A319 full-size jets, a fuel-efficient aircraft.

Q: Will additional security be brought in?

A: The airport is getting approval for Transportation Security Administration screening equipment.

Q: Will the airport have to build a new runway or terminal for Skybus?

A: Construction of a new terminal will begin Monday. A new runway will not be needed.

Q: How much will the St. Augustine Airport gain annually from Skybus?

A: The net income will be a couple hundred thousand dollars a year.

http://staugustine.com/stories/060107/news_4629550.shtml

FOR MORE INFORMATION: www.skybus.com

[Lunican]

Q: Is that how Skybus keeps the flight so cheap?

A: Yes. Because it's a do-it-yourself airline, it skimps on personnel.

Cool, Can I fly the plane?

[thelakelander]

Paving the way for Skybus



St. Augustine has started its transition from general aviation to commercial.

ST. AUGUSTINE - The airport here sees about 345 takeoffs and landings a day, from business jets to military planes.
   
For all of that activity, however, it was Skybus Airlines' announcement of just one flight a day that grabbed headlines around the country, including top listing on a number of travel Web sites.

The buzz was about Skybus, the upstart, ultra-low-price carrier that announced it would begin service between Columbus, Ohio, and St. Augustine in July. Perhaps more importantly, from a regional development standpoint, is the intriguing switch from a general aviation airport to a commercial airport that the Skybus arrival requires. Over the past year, no general aviation airports in the Southeast United States have switched, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. "It's just very rare," said FAA spokesperson Kathleen Bergen.

Building, security, parking coming

Before service begins, the airport has to finish a terminal building, set up a security screening area, finalize a parking area and take care of other details necessary to handle regularly scheduled service. The switchover will cost more than a million dollars, but if the service takes off, the airport expects to make hundreds of thousand dollars a year after expenses and recouping its investment.

Full article:  http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/060607/bus_175015201.shtml

[Jason]

Airport ready for Skybus debut

Skybus Airlines takes its first flight out of St. Augustine airport at 3:12 today

By DOUGLAS JORDAN | More by this reporter | Special to The Record | Posted: Wednesday, July 18, 2007 ; Updated: 11:36 AM on Wednesday, July 18, 2007


Ed Wuellner, executive director of the St. Augustine--St. Johns County Airport, has a special interest in one of the passengers coming in on the first Skybus flight to St. Augustine today.

It's his wife.

Kim Wuellner, a 2006-2007 Teacher of the Year award recipient for St. Augustine High School, purchased one of the first tickets from Columbus to St. Augustine for the airline's inaugural flight, mainly because she wanted to make the maiden trip.


"We've got some family in Ohio, so she went up to see them," Wuellner said. "But she really wanted to take the first flight on the Skybus."

Skybus, a Columbus, Ohio-based start-up airline known for $10 fares offered to the first 10 people to book each flight, will also offer service to secondary cities like Springfield, Mass., Portsmouth, N.H. and other cities throughout the country.

Today's flight is the first in the new St. Augustine service. The plane is scheduled to touch down here at 2:47 p.m.

Beforehand, around 1:30, there will be a ribbon-cutting ceremony in the lobby of the new Skybus terminal.

"We're all very excited about this flight service," Wuellner said. "This will really open up St. Augustine, and will have nothing but a positive economic impact."

Nick Sacia, executive director for economic development for the St. Johns County Chamber of Commerce, agreed wholeheartedly that the service is a good thing for local business.

"It will definitely have a beneficial effect on this area," Sacia said. "For one thing, it will bring some name-brand recognition to St. Augustine on a national level. This will have a larger economic magnitude than many people realize."

Sacia said Skybus will bring added exposure to St. Johns County to travelers who are using the St. Augustine flight as a disembarking point to go to other places in Florida.

"It's our hope that we can figure out an effective way to get them stay here for a few days, on their way to somewhere else. Many of these people are travelers who haven't ever heard of us, but they have heard of Jacksonville and Daytona Beach."

Along those lines, one thing that does bother Sacia about it is that St. Augustine is not mentioned in a prominent way on the Skybus map. The airline lists this stop simply as "Jacksonville/Daytona Beach."

"We'd definitely like to see our name in there," he said. "That may be something that can be accomplished down the road."

Jay Humphreys, communications director for the St. Augustine, Ponte Vedra and the Beaches Visitors Convention Bureau, sees the Skybus flights as the first step to bigger and better things for local tourism.

"We're thrilled about it," he said. "The more we think about its potential, the more ideas we have."

Humphreys said some of those ideas include having a "welcoming committee" at the terminal dressed in period costume, offering information about the nation's oldest city, and placing large, high quality photographs of area sites in the terminal.

He said it's important that people don't view St. Augustine just as a drop-off-and-leave point.

"We want them to know it's not just a place to stay for lunch and then hit the road from," he said. "We have many unique experiences to offer here, and we just need to make people aware that it's a worthy destination in and of itself. We want people to stay for a few days, especially during the mid-week."

He agreed that the flights will give exposure to a large portion of the Midwest, and even to those traveling from other points.

"We've contacted about 47 different travel media people in the Columbus area," he said. "We're sending them all kinds of information about our area, its history and what it has to offer. This is a community that prides itself on hospitality, and we see this as a way to greatly expand that in a way that will be beneficial to local business."

Humphreys is hoping people will see St. Augustine and the surrounding area as an ideal getaway.

"It's a step back in time in the Florida sunshine," he said. "And this airline is no-hassle, which matches the way we are here in St. Augustine."

Wuellner said he hopes to see the day come when there will be several flights per day coming here, not just from Skybus, but from other airlines as well.

"We see this as a starting off point for positive growth," he said. "As the saying goes, the sky's the limit."

[thelakelander]

Hopefully everything works out.  The region would benefit from having two options for air travel.

[Jason]

The part that still floors me is the $10 dollar tickets for the first 10 bookings.  My wife also has tons of family about an hour from Columbus that we are planning to visit soon.  I'd beter book a flight!

[thelakelander]

I have tons of family in Detroit and Upstate NY.  I'm considering flying into Columbus, renting a car and then doing the 4 hour drive to Detroit next year, as opposed to driving straight through or paying for four airplane tickets from a traditional airline.

[Jason]

They also have other connecting flights out of Columbus.  I think there might be some more towards the northeast.  Its worth a look.

Edit:
Just checked their site and they have flights to Boston and Hartford.  Might get you closer, might not.

[Jason]

New horizons

Flights from Greensboro, N.C., to St. Augustine will help city

By KATI BEXLEY   |   More by this reporter  |  kati.bexley@staugustine.com   |   Posted: Wednesday, January 16, 2008 ; Updated: 8:44 AM on Wednesday, January 16, 2008

The city of Greensboro, N.C., might not seem to be St. Augustine residents' ideal vacation spot, but marketers say Skybus's new flight between the two locations which began Tuesday will bolster tourism.

"Most people think of Skybus as just transportation," said Jay Humphreys, communications director for St. Augustine, Ponte Vedra & The Beaches Visitors and Convention Bureau. "It's opened up opportunities in tourism we didn't have."

The Greensboro, N.C., destination is Skybus's third direct flight service out of the St. Augustine Airport. Tourism directors of Winston-Salem, N.C., and Randolph County, N.C., were on the first flight Tuesday ready to meet with Humphreys. Both destinations are less than an hour from Greensboro, N.C.

The group swapped information on North Carolina and St. Augustine in hopes of capitalizing on the new quick and cheap transportation to their areas.

Skybus offers the first 10 seats of every flight at $10, with other seats available at ascending competitive prices. All Skybus flights operate on full-size Airbus A319 jets.

"Not everyone knows what St. Augustine has to offer," said Stephan Dragisic, marketing director of Winston-Salem Convention and Visitors Bureau. "With support of folks here in St. Augustine, we can educate and spread the word about what's here."

And, in return, St. Augustine will do the same for North Carolina.

Randolph County, N.C., is "the rich and creamy center of the state," said Tammy O'Kelley, Randolph County Convention and Visitors Bureau president.

"For a $10 fare you can be there in less than two hours," she said. "Even if this wasn't your first choice, you will find there's lots to see and do."

Skybus is based in Columbus, Ohio, but has recently made Greensboro a second headquarters, establishing a facility at the city's Piedmont Triad International Airport (PTI). Skybus will also base pilots and flight attendants in Greensboro.

The company will initially base two aircraft at PTI, adding a third in February.

Flight service is also available to Portsmouth, N.H.

The no-frills airline only does business over the Internet at www.skybus.com.

Source: http://staugustine.com/stories/011608/news_txt01_001.shtml