http://www.news-record.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070610/NEWSREC0101/70609013/1005/NEWSREC0101 Article published Jun 10, 2007 Skybus: Cheap, savvy and roomy By Richard M. Barron, Staff Writer COLUMBUS, Ohio ? Skybus flight attendants look like rock 'n' roll roadies in their black T-shirts, black pants and sneakers. It's fitting because Skybus carries the personalities you might find in a cantankerous rock band: squirmy children, high-spirited young adults and veterans enduring one more day on the road. Skybus is grabbing this mix of bargain hunters and casual travelers at Piedmont Triad International Airport with cheap fares of $10 and up. "We want to get people off the couch, out of the car and fly with us," said Ken Gile , the airline's president and chief operating officer , wearing a casual shirt in the airline's modest headquarters near Port Columbus International Airport. The airline has its limits: All flights lead to its home base in Columbus, and no flights are designed specifically to connect to other cities. But with creativity or an overnight stay, you could fly from PTI to Columbus and hop another discount flight to Oakland, Calif., or Portsmouth, N.H. PTI desperately needs the passengers attracted by these great prices. The number of passengers flying out of the airport dropped by 28 percent for the first four months of 2007 compared with the first four months of 2006. So Skybus offers a glimmer of hope. At PTI, it's clear the airline is drawing various passengers and more families who would not have been there without Skybus. Roger Dalton , for example, drove 45 minutes from Martinsville, Va., to catch Tuesday's Skybus flight to Columbus to pick up his daughter, Stacy Woody . She just wrapped up her freshman year at Ohio State University. Dalton, 51 and on disability, is watching every dime, so the $90 fare he paid is far better than the $300 he paid to another airline to fly there last year. And if the airline succeeds, he said, he might buy more tickets. "I have an aunt up in Toledo I haven't seen in years," he said, waiting for the flight. "It'd be nice for me to get some tickets for me and my mother and go up to see her." A News & Record reporter flew to Columbus last Tuesday and returned Wednesday. The flights cost $10 each ? a $38 round trip with fees and taxes. Skybus is not your ordinary airline. Planes have no first-class seats. Passengers can pay $10 for early boarding, or they can wait for the all-aboard call. Passengers can check two bags at $5 each or haul them downstairs at PTI and across the tarmac to climb steps to the plane. The large Airbus A319 is a spacious, almost new plane. It has tall, bright ceilings and large storage bins above 156 leather seats. On Tuesday, the airplane's nonreserved seating seemed to make loading quicker, as passengers weren't searching for specific seats and struggling with bins, although the flight appeared to be only two-thirds full. Skybus keeps tight schedules so it can fly to 11 destinations daily with just four planes. The goal is to turn a plane around in 25 minutes , Gile said. A hitch in that schedule can bring cascading delays. The flights to Columbus and back to Greensboro were each delayed an hour because of mechanical trouble in Bellingham, Wash., where the planes fly earlier in the day. Skybus is adding more destinations from Columbus, and PTI travelers will be tempted to try to connect with those flights, especially if they can be boarded in the same evening that the PTI flight lands at 7:16. Just be aware, Gile said, that the airline won't hold flights for late passengers. If you are significantly late from PTI, it's bon voyage to the other plane. Even the airline's inaugural flight to PTI was delayed by three hours on May 22 . "Safety is paramount to us, even if it's an inaugural flight and all the newspapers are waiting for us," Gile said. Entertainment on the flight is strictly self-provided. There is no snappy video or headphone entertainment. Hungry? Some may bristle at the fact that Skybus doesn't offer even a free soda. But many full-price airlines don't offer anything but a soda. Ten dollars can buy you a cold sandwich lunch or a warm dinner. The quick flight from Greensboro to Columbus, with its low price, is more than enough to pull Tim Check , of Burlington, out of his car. Check, 50 , recently accepted a job at Telesis Technologies near Columbus, but his home and family remain in Burlington . "Normally I drive," he said at the gate. "Driving is better because I can leave work whenever I want to." But with gas prices up and the price of an airline ticket to Columbus down, he's a convert to Skybus. All it took was one flight, even a late one, for Dalton to be sold. The late arrival was "a little disgusting," he said, but "I've had worse." "That's real great to be able to afford this," Dalton said, "putting a child through school." Last Christmas, he said, his daughter spent $400 flying home on vacation. "I'm hoping this year we can fly her home for under $100." Contact Richard M. Barron at 373-7371 or dbarron@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Copyright © 2007 The News & Record and Landmark Communications, Inc. ____________________________________________________________________________________ Choose the right car based on your needs. Check out Yahoo! Autos new Car Finder tool. http://autos.yahoo.com/carfinder/ <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> If you wish to unsubscribe from the AIRLINE List, please send an E-mail to: "listserv@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx". Within the body of the text, only write the following:"SIGNOFF AIRLINE".