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What the Skybus Shutdown Means for JetAmerica

Skybus plans to file for bankruptcy in Delaware today, and that has a lot of people in West Virginia nervous. How's that? The founder of the 'bus, John Weikle, is now at work on JetAmerica, an ultra-LCC set to take off from Charleston in 2009.

Among those sweating is Yeager Airport Director Rick Atkinson:

[The Skybus shutdown] is like throwing a wet blanket on plans for Jet America...I don't see how we could go forward with this model.

Also worried is at least one local business leader--who's now frozen some of that seed money his group pledged to Jet America:

There's no way we would have done this if I didn't think Skybus was successful.

For his part, Jaunted pen pal Matt Ballard hasn't given up on the idea of Jet America. But we have to wonder: Does it count as an airline shuttering if the carrier never took a flight?

Related Stories:
· Weikle's Skybus Ceases Operations [Charleston Gazette]
· Top Secret Airline Watch: More Details on Jet America [Jaunted]
· Jet America coverage [Jaunted]