Jet America grounded

  

The fledgling airline cancelled flights and is refunding tickets

TOLEDO, Ohio, July 17, 2009  JetAmerica announced this evening that it is suspending sales to all markets and cancelling all previously scheduled flights and that it would immediately begin to notify affected customers and process refunds to all customers who have booked on the public charter flights. In addition, Toledo Express is offering all affected travelers who booked JetAmerica flights out of Toledo Express Airport assistance due to the inconvenience.

All customers will receive automatic refunds within seven to 14 business days. Any customer not receiving a full refund in 14 days should call JetAmerica at 727-451-3970.

Toledo Express is offering the following services to all passengers affected by the delay who hold a valid ticket on a JetAmerica flight originating from Toledo Express between July 13 and October 31, 2009.

All passengers who hold a valid ticket on a JetAmerica flight originating from Toledo Express Airport between July 13 and October 31, 2009 will be provided travel consultant services via Atlas World Travel. The agents at Atlas World Travel will consult with our passengers to help them identify new travel arrangements. Toledo Express will cover booking fees for any passengers who use Atlas World Travel when making their new arrangements. (Passengers will be responsible for their airfare.) To initiate a consultation with Atlas World Travel, passengers must email their booking confirmation, daytime phone number and email address to Atlas World Travel at smiller@atlasworldtravel.com. Atlas World Travel and Toledo Express jointly host www.flytoledoexpress.com, the air passenger booking agent for Toledo Express Airport.

All passengers who hold a valid ticket on a JetAmerica flight originating from Toledo Express Airport between July 13 and October 31, 2009 are eligible to receive up to five days of free parking at Toledo Express. To obtain the free parking voucher, travelers should email a copy of their confirmation and proof of purchase along with their mailing address and daytime phone number to Toledo Express Airport at contactus@toledoportauthority.org.

"Though we are disappointed to hear about this situation, our first priority is always with our customers," says Michael J. Stolarczyk, President and CEO of the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority. "Toledo Express is providing travel agent consulting services via Atlas World Travel to assist our affected passengers as they rebook their flights and will cover their booking fees if they choose to rebook via Atlas. We are also offering the affected passengers free parking the next time they fly from Toledo Express. Though we have no control over cancellations such as this, we have asked our community to support us and we appreciate that support and are trying to mitigate their inconvenience as much as possible."

"We are reluctantly suspending our public charter operations effective today," said John Weikle, JetAmerica CEO, who has been with the company since April. "Finalizing the slots required to support our charter program at Newark has taken longer than expected and we have decided to suspend our flights in order to refocus on different markets. We still strongly believe that there is an unmet need for affordable air service to secondary markets and we look forward to offering this option again in the near future," concluded Weikle.

In May, JetAmerica announced the start of non-stop service from Toledo Express (TOL) to Melbourne International Airport in Florida (MLB), Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) in New Jersey and Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP).

The airline planned to launch from Toledo Express this month, then pushed back its start date to August 14. It also refunded $600,000 to more than 6,400 customers. Today, it suspended all flights and service.

Since that delay, sources tell 13abc it's been one stumbling block after another.

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