JetAmerica Bites the Dust Before Takeoff

To the surprise of no one except people who bet money on this doomed venture (or bought tickets), the startup airline JetAmerica has folded before takeoff.

I could never quite figure this one out. It was hyped by credulous airline reporters when the "airline" first announced a start-up with $9 come-on fares in May, with a hodgepodge of planned routes including Toledo, South Bend, Ind., Melbourne, Fla., Minneapolis and ... Newark. Something about charter flights.

At the time, I noted that a local newspaper, the Columbus Dispatch, was doing what newspapers should be doing, digging out the facts and putting the story into context. Here's a link to the Columbus Dispatch story on JetAmerica and its genealogy.

And here's a link to JetAmerica's jive announcement trying to hold off the inevitable last week.

[UPDATE: Here's Mike Boyd's amusing take today on this "doomed-from-the-start airline," which as he notes had some airports among its gullible believers. Says Mike: "Ray Charles could have seen the danger signs" here.]

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