He came to Columbus with the idea of starting the city's first homegrown airline, but 11 monthslater Skybus was bankrupt.
The airline's former chief executive officer spoke this week about why the airline failed andwhat he is doing now, 10TV's Kevin Landers reported.
Sept. 26, 2006 was a big day as the mayor and city leaders welcomed Skybus to Port ColumbusInternational Airport.
"I view Skybus headquarters in Columbus comparable to Honda in Marysville," said Mayor MichaelColeman.
CEO Bill Diffenderffer in 2006 said his airline would succeed where others failed, offering $10tickets and lower fares than anyone else, Landers reported.
In May 2007, the airline took off for the first time, leaving Columbus for Burbank Calif., but11 months later, the airline was grounded.
"Do you take blame for the failure? I have to, and you're the CEO of the company and it goesdown, you got to look at yourself - you didn't get it done," Diffenderffer said.
Diffenderffer said the airline hit the perfect storm of bad breaks.
Oil prices skyrocketed, bad weather grounded planes - the airline was burning through cash - itsplanes broke down but there were no back ups, and passenger confidence was sinking, Landersreported.
"Oil was up to $140 a barrel and that was 40 percent of our cost when it was $60 a barrel, soour cost structure was going up and our passengers were disappearing," Diffenderffer said.
Diffenderffer was earning $320,000 a year before he was shown the door.
"I walked away, basically, like most of other people with a couple of months salary and that wasit," Diffenderffer said.
Lawsuits would follow Diffenderffer's departure - over employee salaries - and Port Columbussued for money it spent on a new gate. All parties later settled, Landers reported.
"There have been a lot of people who said 'You cost me a lot of money' and there are others whosay 'Thank you that was great and we really miss it,'" Diffenderffer said.
Today, Diffenderffer is no longer in the airline industry.
He has written a book called Bank of Last Resort, which takes a critical look at the Obamaadministration and offers a cautionary tale, in his opinion, about why today's economic policeswill not work.
"I wanted a president that came in and said 'We need to fix some things' - health care needs tobe fixed - that doesn't mean government should manage a health care system; they don't knowhow."
Diffenderffer said the same holds true with the bailouts of automakers and the bankingindustry.
"They don't know how to run a company, so why have a car czar? They don't know how to run banksyet they all have these people now telling them how they should be run," Diffenderffer said. "Ithink we have to let the big companies fail so the newer hungrier new models can come in a replacetheir old models that aren't working."
Diffenderffer said he believes more airlines will fail if the economy continues to shrink.
Skybus investors included Nationwide Mutual Capital, Huntington Capital Investment Co., BattelleServices Co. and Wolfe Enterprises Inc., a subsidiary of The Dispatch Printing Company, which ownsWBNS-TV and The Ohio News Network.
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Previous Stories:
April 6, 2008: Skybus' Decision Shocks Travelers, Workers
April 4, 2008: Skybus To EndOperations
March 24, 2008: Skybus CEOStepping Down
March 19, 2008: Skybus AdjustsSchedule To Deal With Fuel Costs
March 6, 2008: Skybus Changes TripInsurance To Cover Cancellations
February 22, 2008: SkybusWaives Ticket-Change Fee
February 15, 2008: Skybus Increases Fee For Checked Baggage, Priority Boarding
