RIP, Skybus

The days of $20 roundtrip airfares are officially over. Skybus announced their closure on Friday evening, effective on Saturday. (See this post for more info on Skybus)

Skybus has chalked up the failure to rising fuel prices and the general state of the economy. Some experts think the business model was flawed from the beginning. The lack of customer service department and lots of cancelled flights in the winter may have played a part as well. Still, I think the industry can probably learn some lessons from Skybus:
1. People want cheaper airfare.
2. Columbus is not a good hub.
3. Do something different and you'll get attention for it.

Despite their failure, I applaud Skybus for at least attempting to meet consumer desires and buck the traditional air travel conventions. Now if they just could have done it without stranding their customers...