news-record.com

After a public stumble at Christmas, Skybus Airlines is rolling out a round of new-year discounts for winter travel.

The discounts should be especially useful to passengers from Piedmont Triad International Airport, where Skybus is rolling out a new hub beginning Sunday.

The airline said today that it will sell thousands of fares on all its routes for $20.08 one way between Jan. 9 and Feb. 29. With a regular policy of offering at least 10 $10 seats on every flight, Skybus has created a second tier of super-low discounts.

The flights are available only online at http://www.skybus.com. The airline does not have a telephone reservation service. The sale began today, and tickets must be bought by midnight Saturday, Jan. 5.

Passengers looking to travel on flights where $10 seats are sold out should have a better chance at these, the airline said.

The new discount couldn't come at a better time for the airline, which suffered a blemish when it had to cancel eight flights on Christmas Day and 10 flights on the next day because two of its planes had to be repaired.

The Skybus hub is big news for PTI, which has suffered declining passenger numbers for nearly three years.

Skybus will add a second flight to its home base of Columbus, Ohio, on Sunday as it rolls out hub service that will mean 13 daily flights from PTI to a variety of cities including the New York and Los Angeles metro areas.

Contact Richard M.Barron at 373-7371 or richard.barron@news-record.com