JetAmerica (2nd) (St. Petersburg/Clearwater and Toledo) appears to be a non-starter. Yesterday (July 17) JetAmerica stopped selling tickets and promised to give full refunds to those who had already purchased tickets from the public charter company. The company had originally set July 13 as its launch date and then pushed it back to August 14 as it attempted to obtain slots at Newark and Washington. It was planning to use Boeing 737-800s leased from Miami Air.
News link:
JetAmerica (2nd) (St. Petersburg and Toledo) has delayed its start-up from July 13 to at least August 14 due to problems obtaining slots at Newark.
Additional details:
JetAmerica (2nd) (Toledo) is the latest idea of John Weikle, the founder of defunct Skybus Airlines (3rd) (Columbus, OH). The new paper airline was established on November 26, 2007. JetAmerica will be modeled after ultra low-cost carrier Ryanair that Skybus had also adopted but failed (Spirit Airlines also uses this model). This time Weikle will initially wet lease two 189-seat Boeing 737-800s from Miami Air International and will fly to some cities that will be EAS federally funded. Fares will be 50 to 70 percent lower than major airlines. Toledo (near Detroit and Cleveland) has been selected as the base. Initial routes will span out to South Bend, Lansing, Melbourne/Vero Beach, Newark and Minneapolis/St. Paul. In addition Cincinnati, Columbus, OH and Pittsburgh are being considered for future expansion. Colors will be red, white and blue.