Bloodbath 2008: Chapter 11 doesn't quite kill Frontier...yet

Unlike the other victims of Bloodbath 2008, Frontier Airlines has decided to try and stay afloat after it filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy late last night by not shutting down operations. The AP writes that Frontier said "its filing … came after an unexpected attempt by its principal credit card processor to start withholding significant proceeds from the sale of Frontier tickets, which threatened to hurt Frontier's liquidity." The airline's CEO is confident that while under Chapter 11 protection, they will be able to find additional financing and enhance their liquidity. I hope they didn't throw out all of those "pre-approved" credit card offers. They may need one.

Frontier is the first airline in the last several weeks with severe financial difficulties not to stop operating unlike those other quiters. They'll keep chugging along like everything is normal, for now. But for how long can they stay above water? I'm willing to take bets on this one.

Oh yeah, earlier this week I predicted that Frontier would be the next to go down. They haven't quite gone down, but I was pretty close in that prediction.

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Bloodbath 2008 - International Edition: Oasis Hong Kong bites it

Oasis Hong Kong called it quits today by suspending all flight operations and liquidating their assets as the result of plaguing financial difficulties and the inability to find new financiers. The low-cost/long-haul carrier based out of, you guessed it, Hong Kong, flew a tiny fleet of gigantic aircraft between its base and London Gatwick and Vancouver. Oasis Hong Kong operated a fleet of five 747-400s in what I thought was one of the coolest liveries out there. They had high hopes of adding additional aircraft and additional destinations to Australia, Europe and the US, but the investors never quite got on board. I guess US carriers aren't the only ones feeling the pinch. Oh well, so long baby.



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Bloodbath 2008: Skyway gets severed like John Wayne Bobbit

We've reached victim numero cinco on our Bloodbath 2008 Watch as Midwest Air Group (the parent company of Midwest Airlines) lopped off Skyway Airlines like a cheating appendage. Employees, family members, and fans of the tiny airline used for Midwest Connect services were there as Skyway flew it's last flight into its home in Milwaukee, WI on Saturday. Midwest Air Group chose to scrap Skyway in favor of farming out their flying to Skywest (no relation) in an attempt to stay above water in this sinking economy with it's outrageously high fuel prices. Skyway, known for flying it's fleet of Dornier 328Jets and Beech 1900s, was actually hardly known, unless you lived in the Great Lakes region. Midwest Air Group will eventually sell off their aircraft. RIP, Skyway-X.

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Bloodbath 2008: Skybus the youngest victim yet

Aloha, Champion, ATA, and now add Skybus as the latest airline to die a miserable death within the last week at the hands of rising fuel costs and an economy in the dump. Last night the Columbus, Ohio based airline said it would file Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Monday after shutting down all operations today. Not even making it a full year of operation, Skybus had the shortest life of any of the recent airline fatalities and hadn't even come close to it's prime. With only 11 of it's 60 ordered A319s and serving only 11 cities with scheduled service, I don't think too many people are going to notice them missing in action. Well, maybe their 450 employees will.

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Aloha parks it

This nice picture from Airliners.net was taken Wednesday, the day after Aloha Airlines shutdown their operations. Honolulu International Airport is now littered with their old fleet. Aircraft are parked in every little nook and cranny available at the airport as their fleet of 28 Boeing 737s await their new fate.

Photo: David Sperry

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Round and round we go: ATA bites the dust now

Aloha, croaks last week; Champion crashes and burns on Tuesday (figuratively, of course); and now this. ATA announced this morning that they have filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy and ceased all flight operations effective immediately. Another Third-rate Airline ATA is claiming they are the latest victim in a string of murders by the evil rising prices of jet fuel. The Indianapolis based charter and scheduled airline also states it has lost out on a key military charter contract for 2009. FedEx, the team leader for an arrangement with the DOD and Air Mobility Command, officially booted ATA from the team next year. Apparently this team, of which ATA has been a part of for nearly 20 years, was just about the only thing that kept them flying with a nice little injection of military funding. That, coupled with the ridiculous spike in fuel prices, was enough to nail down the coffin on ATA. I guess this officially ends their code-sharing agreement with Southwest, who by the way has enough problems of their own.

P.S. If you have already purchased a ticket on ATA for the future, it will make a nice origami swan, as your ticket is now worth the equivalent of an origami swan. Your SOL. Sorry, buddy.

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Aloha to Aloha Airlines -- Final Flight

Aloha Airlines completed its last flight On Monday (March 31) after 61 years of operation. Officials from the airlines say they simply ran out of time to find a qualified buyer or to get more $$ to keep operating. They blamed "unfair competition" from Mesa Air Group's go! airline that started operations in Hawaii in 2006 and offerred inter-island fares as low as $19 each way. Yay capitalism.

The last flight, as I'm sure was planned, was from Kahului with Aloha's most senior pilot and most junior pilot at the controls.

The airline's worst accident occurred in 1988, when a part of the fuselage ripped away in flight. See Hollywood's best reenactment of said incident below. Love the acting.

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