JetAmerica ready to launch, plans flights in small markets

— -- A new, ultralow-cost carrier says it will announce plans Wednesday to start flying in July with promotional fares as low as $9 one way.

JetAmerica says it will fly Boeing 737s starting July 13 between Newark's Liberty Airport and four smaller markets that currently have only minimal, and expensive, regional airline service. Those four: Toledo, Ohio; South Bend, Ind.; Lansing, Mich.; and Melbourne-Vero Beach, Fla.

The carrier also says it plans service from Melbourne-Vero Beach to Lansing and Minneapolis-St. Paul, and between Toledo and Minneapolis-St. Paul. Typically, fares will begin around $69 one way. But a small number of seats on each flight will be available, at least early on, at prices as low as $9. Passengers will pay extra to check bags or have a soft drink.

It's a marketing approach used by Skybus, a Columbus, Ohio-based carrier that operated for about 10 months until weak revenue and high oil prices forced it out of business in April 2008. Skybus offered some seats for $10 until it went bankrupt.

The similarity is not a coincidence. JetAmerica founder and CEO John Weikle also was Skybus' founder, though he left the management of that company shortly after it launched in May 2007.

JetAmerica issued a pre-announcement statement, but officials at the airline and its public relations agency did not return calls seeking further details. Weikle said in the statement that despite a deep recession and a double-digit drop in passenger traffic, now "is actually a good time for a start-up because airlines are cutting flights."

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"JetAmerica's plan is to fill the gap left by big, high-cost legacy airlines that have trimmed or eliminated services in many markets," he said.

Technically, however, JetAmerica is not an airline. It will sell tickets via the website www.jetamerica.com, do the marketing and determine the flight schedule and cities it serves.

The company has contracted with Miami-based charter carrier Miami Air International to provide and operate the aircraft. Though flights will be scheduled, the JetAmerica operation will be classified as a public charter, not as a scheduled airline.