JetAmerica cancels all flights
7/17/2009JetAmerica, the start-up airline that announced plans earlier this year to fly to three cities from Toledo with deeply discounted fares, has canceled all of its planned flights and was beginning the process of paying refunds to ticket-holders, the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority has announced.
According to a statement from the port authority, JetAmerica attributed its decision to continuing difficulty obtaining take-off and landing "slots" at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey, to which it had planned to fly round trips from Toledo six days per week.
The port authority said all refunds should be issued within two weeks. The authority said it would offer re-booking assistance to passengers holding JetAmerica reservations through Oct. 31 and also provide vouchers good for up to five days of free parking at Toledo Express Airport to "mitigate their inconvenience as much as possible," said Michael Stolarczyk, the port authority s president.
JetAmerica had planned to start flying between Toledo and Newark on July 13, but two weeks ago postponed its inaugural flights until Aug. 14, the day it also planned to begin flights to Minneapolis-St. Paul and Melbourne, Fla.
It had blamed the "slots" issue for that postponement as well, and the port authority statement quoted John Weikle, JetAmerica s chief executive, as saying the airline now plans to "refocus on different markets."
Because JetAmerica was operating as a public charter carrier, all funds paid for tickets were held in escrow until flights departed, so passengers payments were not at risk of loss if the company encountered financial problems.