New airline values Gary

GARY | Britian-based SkyValue announced Friday it will begin service in the United States, running its first regularly scheduled passenger flights from the Gary/Chicago International Airport starting Dec. 1.

SkyValue USA will fly as a leisure destination airline with 12 flights per week out of the Gary airport -- three nonstops to Orlando and Phoenix each, and two each to Fort Lauderdale, St. Petersburg and Las Vegas.

SkyValue Chief Executive Officer Darrell Richardson said he thought SkyValue's arrival could attract other airlines to Gary.

"The airlines are sitting back to see how Gary really progresses," Richardson said. "Let me put it like this: No one wanted to fly to Newark until Peoples Express went there. And now everyone wants to."

The airline's arrival was announced just after Gov. Mitch Daniels handed $20 million to the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority for the airport's runway expansion at the airport administration building.

Gary Mayor Rudy Clay was finishing up thanking the governor at the microphone when airport director Chris Curry handed him a note announcing the restart of passenger service at Gary.

"I'll be putting a sign right out front that says we're open for business," Clay said.

The Gary airport has been without regularly scheduled passenger service since Hooters Air flew its last flights out in January.

SkyValue was established in 1994 in Great Britain, where it runs charter flights to Mediterranean vacation spots as well as Orlando, Fla.

The U.S. SkyValue startup will fly a 174-seater Boeing 737-800 out of Gary from Dec. 1 through April 30, Richardson said. Introductory fares will start at $79. If it proves successful, it could become a year-round airline, Richardson said.

Richardson is no newcomer to the Gary airport. He was formerly the CEO of Pace Airlines, which operated Hooters Air's flights. In a similar way, Xtra Airways, of Elko, Nev., will operate SkyValue flights under its own public charter certificate.

Richardson also once had plans to operate a business-class charter service out of Gary airport, and flew Northwest Indiana business people and tourism officials on a charter flight from there in May of 2003. That plan did not pan out.

The airport offered incentives to SkyValue that include matching the airline's marketing funds and giving it a break on some airport fees, according to airport director Chris Curry.

The same has been done for other airlines, Curry said. He would not say how much in marketing funds the airport is ready to lay out for SkyValue. For Hooters, the figure approached $400,000, Curry said.

The airport will not be using a $600,000 grant it was recently awarded by the U.S. Department of Transportation, Curry said. That grant is to be used as an incentive for an airline that will fly to a major hub such as Atlanta.