West Virginia-based startup Jet America has ceased operations on 7 April.
Low-cost Jet America would have provided interstate and intrastate service from Yeager airport in Charleston starting in 2010.Some investors, however, reneged after low-cost Skybus Airlines ceased operations, says Matt Ballard, president and CEO of the Charleston Area Alliance.
The nonprofit alliance earmarked $200,000 for the airline spearheaded by Skybus founder John Weikle.
The alliance wanted the project to move forward, but with rising fuel costs and the challenge of raising money in this economy, some public investors decided now was not time to start an airline, Ballard explains.
Charleston and Central West Virginia convention and visitor bureaus had pledged to invest $1 million from hotel and motel taxes.
Weikle raised the $3 million minimum seed capital required by 31 March.
He had expressed interest in applying for $1 million from the West Virginia Jobs Investment Trust (WVJIT), the state’s venture capital fund, but had not done so by 31 March, WVJIT executive director Richard Ross said.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
Source: FlightGlobal.com
