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Flyi Drops JFK, West Coast Flights

September 26, 2005
Hoping to stave off bankruptcy, Independence Air is dropping flights to New York's John F. Kennedy Airport and to major West Coast destinations, including Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle.

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The Washington Dulles-based carrier is also eliminating service to Cleveland, Indianapolis, Louisville and Stewart International Airport in New York's Hudson Valley. By the end of November, it will have cut its Dulles flights to 230 from a peak of 600 last winter.

The airline is adding service from Dulles to New York's LaGuardia and to an unspecified Caribbean destination in mid-December.

The low-fare carrier is afflicted by the sharply higher fuel costs that are also plaguing its competitors.

It's also still struggling to find a niche. Independence began service flying small regional jets from Dulles to mostly smaller markets. Then it decided to beef up by adding larger Airbus A319 jets, which supposedly would operate more efficiently.

It's unclear whether those efficiencies ever materialized. The airline insists it had strong traffic on its West Coast routes but found them unprofitable.

Parent company Flyi Inc.'s stock has lost about 95 percent of its value since the airline began service on June 16, 2004. It previously operated as a profitable "feeder" carrier for United and Delta Airlines.

For the last several months, the troubled carrier has survived mainly by selling off its jets and spare parts. In its last filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Flyi said it had hired advisers to make "contingent plans" for a bankruptcy filing.

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