USA TODAY: Today in the Sky with Ben Mutzabaugh

Another start-up carrier is set to fly along the East Coast, possibly picking up the slack left behind by now-defunct Hooters Air. The carrier is Southern Skyways and will focus its route structure on the South Carolina golf and beach resort of Myrtle Beach, reports The Sun News of Myrtle Beach. The carrier will begin service March 2 with flights from Myrtle Beach to both Allentown, Pa., and Charleston, W. Va. Southern also will offer one-stop connecting service between Cincinnati and Myrtle Beach via Charleston. Don't expect daily service though. On its website, the airline says its "days of operation are Monday, Wednesday and Fridays beginning March 2, 2007 and continuing through the end of August. Mid-week Wednesday flights do not operate every week due to the seasonality of demand." Southern will fly Boeing 150-seat 737-300 aircraft on the routes and is advertising $99 one-way fares to Myrtle Beach and $39 one-way fares between Cincinnati and Charleston, according to AP.

Southern "currently charters planes from Pace Airlines, which also supplied Hooters' carrier," writes the The Express-Times of Pennsylvania. Southern is operated by parent company Aviation Advantage, which The Charleston Gazette writes "has been running charter flights for several years." Cary Evans, executive vice president at Southern, says this about parent company Aviation Advantage: "We fly on the West Coast from San Francisco to Acapulco. We do a lot of bowls, football, casinos. We're busy." Still, some wonder if Southern will face skepticism by fliers who were jilted by Hooters Air, which abruptly stopped service last year after complaining about high fuel prices. With $99 fares, 737 jets and destinations like Allentown, WPDE-TV of South Carolina notes that much of Southern's strategy is "straight out of the playbook of the now defunct Hooters Air." Southern officials, however, say they're not trying to be another Hooters. "We just picked one of the Hooters Air routes that we felt was most successful, and [we are] pleased that we were able to pick up where they left off. I think that benefits everybody," Evans says.

Southern is technically an indirect air carrier -– or a charter airline that operates some scheduled service on certain routes. Such carriers are required to hold customers' fares in escrow until the carrier actually operates their flights. Rick Atkinson, chief of Charleston's Yeager Airport, tells the Charleston Daily Mail that such service could become more common in smaller markets, where luring low-cost carriers is difficult. "This scheduled charter-type air service is, I believe, the wave of the future for mid-size communities to have affordable air service to vacation destinations," Atkinson says. "We'll continue to look at opportunities as they present themselves," he adds. But will Southern's strategy of flying 737s on routes like Charleston-Cincinnati work? That remains to be seen, but Ted Lawson of National Travel tells WOWK-TV of West Virginia: "You can't stay home for $39."

Commercial airline service will return to the Gary/Chicago International Airport this December. The airport, which is trying to position itself as the third airport for the metro Chicago area, announced Friday that it has landed leisure carrier SkyValue USA. The airline will begin its Gary service with 12 flights per week. SkyValue will fly three weekly non-stop flights to both Orlando and the Williams Gateway Airport near Phoenix, as well as two weekly flights each to Fort Lauderdale, St. Petersburg (Fla.) and Las Vegas, The Times of northwest Indiana reports. SkyValue CEO Darrell Richardson tells the paper that he believes SkyValue's decision to fly out of Gary could attract other airlines. "The airlines are sitting back to see how Gary really progresses," Richardson says. "Let me put it like this: No one wanted to fly to Newark until Peoples Express went there. And now everyone wants to."

Gary has also recently tried to court JetBlue, which is attempting to secure landing rights at Chicago O’Hare. Gary's airport has had no regularly scheduled commercial airline service since Hooters Air abruptly stopped flying in January. The Gary Post-Tribune says the details of SkyValue’s flights came Friday in a "surprise announcement … made at a scheduled groundbreaking at a $20 million runway extension at the airport." SkyValue's Gary flights currently are slated to run through April, but "if it is successful, it will stay on as year-round" service, Gary airport director Chris Curry tells Crain's Chicago Business. So, who is SkyValue? The Times writes that the company "was established in 1994 in Great Britain, where it runs charter flights to Mediterranean vacation spots as well as Orlando, Fla." It says SkyValue's U.S. airline subsidiary will fly 174-seat Boeing 737-800 jets on its routes out of Gary.

Hooters Air flew its last regularly scheduled commercial flight Monday, ending a three-year run for the “delightfully tacky airline” based at Myrtle Beach, S.C. The Myrtle Beach Sun News writes that Hooters' demise “leaves locals without direct connections to places such as Newark, N.J., and makes it more challenging for tourists -- especially the golfers who loved the Hooters ambience -- to come” to the South Carolina beach resort. Two passengers on Hooters' final flights flew from Baltimore to Myrtle Beach and directly back simply so they could take advantage of free Hooters flight vouchers they won on a radio station. "It's a sad, sad day,” Matthew Beverungen, one of the radio winners, said of Hooters’ collapse.

But Russ Michi, a junior from Coastal Carolina University, had a different take as he tried to find out when his girlfriend's flight would arrive. He said Hooters’ counters weren’t staffed and that the information on the airline's flight monitors was wrong. "No wonder they are going under," he said. Hooters Air President Mark Peterson told The Sun News that the carrier didn't skimp on service in its final days. At its peak, Hooters flew to 15 destinations in the USA and the Bahamas, but trouble began this past winter when the airline abruptly canceled most if its flights, saying it was making a seasonal suspension of service because of high fuel costs. That, however, left many ticketed passengers on their own to make new plans at the last-minute for travel around the Christmas and New Year’s holidays. Hooters never resumed service to most destinations.

Check out photos from the airline's history here.

There’s more new regarding the collapse of Hooters Air, which is now being sued by Allentown’s (Pa.) Lehigh Valley International Airport  for the $1.1 million the airport says are the airline’s unpaid bills. Most of that figure is for unpaid fuel bills, airport officials tell The Allentown Morning Call. "They were behind, and then they caught up, and then they got behind again," airport chief George Doughty says to The Express-Times of Easton, Pa. said. "The amount of money in the matter of a month or two became excessive." The lawsuit comes following Hooters Air’s slow demise over the past four months, in which it made last-minute cancellations that stranded Christmastime travelers and altered flight schedules that sometimes even caught airport officials by surprise.

After nearly three years of flying, Hooters Air will end all of its regularly scheduled passenger service on April 17. Hooters will now focus on flying charter flights for large groups such as sports teams and tour groups. That was the original business model for Pace Airlines before Hooters chairman Bob Books acquired that small carrier in 2002 and converted it into Hooters Air. "The flying industry is in a terrible mess," Brooks tells The Sun News of Myrtle Beach, S.C. "I've got a fair amount of money, but I don't have enough to fix this animal. … Now I think the best thing we can do is basically put it to bed, at least for right now, until the industry changes.” The first signs of problems at Hooters Air surfaced in December, when the carrier abruptly began canceling flights over the winter holidays -– leaving many disgruntled passengers scrambling to make alternate plans for holiday flights. Then came news earlier this month about another wave of Hooters Air service cuts, which seemed to catch some officials at the affected airport by surprise.

Hooters Air owner Robert Brooks told The (Myrtle Beach) Sun News that the airline business is "crazy" and that he isn't sure what will happen to the airline. The Myrtle Beach, S.C., based carrier has been shrinking. It ceased service to Rockford, Ill.,  earlier this year, and on April 19 will eliminate service to Lehigh Valley International Airport in Allentown, Pa.

"I just hate to quit," Brooks told the paper. "I'm still fighting, but don't expect anything long term. I dearly wished it could have turned out better." He said that he's "open to suggestions" about what do for the carrier. The airline has been plagued by competition and rising fuel bills. Brooks is chairman of Hooters of America, the restaurant chain known for its scantily clad waitresses.
-- Barbara De Lollis

Hooters Air appears to be on the verge of ending its experiment of flying scheduled airline service. And, just like when the airline abruptly canceled holiday flights in December with little advance warning, Hooters' latest moves again seem likely to raise questions about the airline’s credibility. In Florida, the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times says Hooters Air president Mark Peterson told St. Petersburg/Clearwater International Airport chief Noah Lagos that the airline hadn't decided whether the carrier would keep flying its four weekly round trips to Allentown, Pa. “But,” the paper writes, “an Allentown airport executive e-mailed him that the airline was ending the flights next month and calling passengers with the news.” Lagos’ conclusion: "It appears Hooters Air is leaving our market. They're looking at what markets they serve and I think they're trying to figure out if they're going to stay in business or not."

Hooters also will end service to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport, though officials there appear to have received first-hand notification of the service disruption. The Wilkes-Barre Times Leader writes" that Hooters Air President Mark Peterson called airport director Barry Centini with the news. “Just to make sure everyone knows, this is not a Wilkes-Barre/Scranton problem,” he tells the paper. “Hooters is ceasing service pretty much everywhere.” Centini continues: "They (Hooters) felt really bad. They want the passengers to know that they will be refunded. As we speak right now Hooters is contacting every one of the people that has a reservation.”

Reporting on Hooters pullout from Allentown's Lehigh Valley International Airport (LVIA), The Allentown Morning Call cites an online statement from Hooters that appears on LVIA's website. It reads: "Due to the escalating cost of fuel, the distance to the Florida markets, the configuration of our aircraft, and the fares people are willing to pay, it is impossible for Hooters Air to continue service" from LVIA.

There seems to be more uncertainty surrounding the status of restaurant-themed Hooters Air. Officials at Pennsylvania’s Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport tell WNEP-16 of Moosic, Pa., they have doubts about the airline’s future there. "They are not going to get it done as an airline," says Lackawanna County Commissioner Bob Cordaro, a member of airport board. "As far as we've heard, they'll be ceasing their operations here in a very short period of time." Among the concerns is that the airline will end its service from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton to Orlando, despite a 11-month commitment by Hooters to fly that route -– something that was secured with $325,000 in federal and county funds. The Times Leader of Wilkes Barre says that just like when Hooters canceled other service from the region, the carrier’s website now simply “lists Orlando flights after March 26 and beginning on April 20 as ‘Sold out.’ "

Just down the road in Allentown, Pa., The Morning Call writes that Hooters owes more than $1 million for fuel sales at Lehigh Valley International Airport. In that report, airport chief George Doughty said he has become concerned that Hooters’ “habit of cancelling flights is alienating customers,” the Morning Call writes. ''That is really being your own worst enemy,” Doughty said. Similar complaints about Hooters poured in during the Christmas holiday travel period, when the airline scrubbed flights on several routes at the last minute. The airline cited high fuel costs for the "seasonal adjustment," but the changes effectively canceled the plans of many fliers who were unable to find new holiday flights on such late notice.

Gary, Ind., near Chicago was one of those cities where Hooters made “seasonal adjustments.” But The Times of northwest Indiana notes that Hooters website “has not been taking reservations for flights from the Gary/Chicago International Airport for about a month, though it was taking March reservations when the flight suspensions were originally announced in December.”

After starting service between Detroit and Chicago/Rockford International Airport in Rockford, Ill., in May, Northwest Airlines today is ending its daily non-stop service Customers with reservations after today were offered refunds or put on flights out of Chicago, Milwaukee or Madison, Wis. "The flight is not meeting our financial expectations," Northwest Airlines spokeswoman Tracy Carlson tells the Rockford Register Star.

The move is a blow for the airport, which has struggled to land commercial service. The airport, located about 90 miles northwest from Chicago, lost Transmeridian service when that carrier went out of business earlier this year, and Hooters Air has withdrawn service after being upset that Rockford used incentives to lure United. United will add Denver service in March --  a route that Hooters had also served from Rockford. As for Northwest’s service cuts, Mike Dunn, chairman of the Greater Rockford Airport Authority board of directors, says the number of connecting passengers traveling from Rockford through Detroit was satisfactory, but that the non-stop passenger count was too low to make the route work. Dunn tells the Register Star “we have not had any success in getting the Rockford-to-Detroit clientele. And we know that's because the rates are too expensive."

There are more complaints from Hooters Air passengers who say their holiday travel plans have been ruined by the airline’s last-minute service cuts. The latest newspaper to talk to irate Hooters customers comes from Chicago, where the Daily Southtown says Hooters’ decision to suspend its winter flights between Chicago/Gary International Airport and Las Vegas has left some holiday travelers in the lurch. The paper talked to Joel Remaley of Hobart, Ind., whose daughter was scheduled to fly Hooters Air from Las Vegas to Gary to spend Christmas with her dad. The airline has said it would offer refunds to passengers affected by the cancellations, but Remaley says that won't help his daughter.

"She's not going to be able to come home because all of the other seats (on other airlines) are filled up,'' he tells the Daily Southtown. In previous reports, Hooters said it was suspending service to several cities because of high-fuel costs and the expected seasonal drop in demand for air travel during winter. The Daily Southtown quotes Gary Airport chief Paul Karas as saying Hooters told him it was suspending its Las Vegas service so that the airline could use the planes from that route to increase charter operations. Hooters plans to resume its Gary-Las Vegas flights in March.

Hooters Air says high fuel costs are forcing it to halt service from its Myrtle Beach, S.C., hub to six cities until next March, when the cyclical demand for air travel typically picks up. The affected routes are from Myrtle Beach to Baltimore; Columbus, Ohio; Gary, Ind.; Pittsburgh; and Nassau; as well as Las Vegas to Myrtle Beach, The Associated Press reports. “In the past years we have reduced the schedule and absorbed the costs,” says Hooters Air President Mark Peterson. “However, this year with the high cost of fuel and low participation the seasonable adjustments were necessary."

Some of the passengers who held tickets on the canceled flights say they’re angry at the airline, even though they received refunds. Robert and Barbara Grace are among those angry fliers. The couple tells The Sun News of Myrtle Beach that Hooters' last-minute cuts have left them with few traveling options, meaning that they might not get to see Barbara's 80-year-old father this Christmas. They say they were notified on Dec. 12 that their Dec. 21 itinerary was canceled, giving them little time to rebook on another airline.

And in unrelated flight cuts, Hooters has dropped service to Rockford, Ill., after a spat with the airport over revenue guarantees given by the airport to United Airlines to fly on a competing route. That cancellation snared South Carolina resident Michelle King, who found out on Dec. 8 that her Dec. 22 Myrtle Beach-to-Rockford flight was permanently canceled. She said she had to buy a much more expensive last-minute ticket on another airline.

"It was my first time ever dealing with Hooters, and I'm so appalled at how we've been treated," King tells The Sun News. "All the people I've spoken with in the customer service department, they really couldn't tell me anything." Hooters’ Peterson says the airline is sympathetic, but adds that there’s little it can do. “It's nothing that we're happy about doing. It's a business decision," he says. "In years past, when we got into the offseason here in Myrtle Beach, we absorbed those costs, but fuel is twice what it was during those years. Flying flights without a lot of people on them, you can't afford to do that any more."

What's in a name? Try asking the folks at Great Rockford Airport, which this month officially renamed itself as the Chicago/Rockford International Airport. Why the name change? Located 90 miles from downtown Chicago, the Rockford airport has had trouble during the past few years attracting airline service. It seems, according to The Chicago Tribune (free registration), that the airport was too close to Chicago for airlines to take a chance adding flights to the northern Illinois city. "This community has always been told by the airline industry … that, 'You can't compete. You're too close to O'Hare,'" says airport chief Bob O'Brien.

But while downtown Chicago may be nearly a two-hour drive from Rockford, many of the city's northern suburbs aren't much farther from Rockford than from O'Hare or Midway airports. Hoping to capitalize on that, the airport came up with a new name that they hope will make Rockford's proximity to Chicago an asset — not a liability. The airline is also offering certain incentives to airlines, a move in which the airport promises to cover at least part of an airline's losses should a new carrier take a chance on Rockford and fail to meet revenue projections there. It seems to be working: After losing commercial service altogether in 2002, Rockford lured back smaller carriers — including Hooters Air — during the past two years. And now the major carriers appear to have a renewed interest. Northwest began flying to Detroit in May, and United is scheduled to add non-stop service to Denver next year. It's no guarantee of success for Rockford, but it appears to be headed in the right direction. "The people at Rockford have played their hand very nicely," says Aaron Gellman, a professor of at Northwestern University's Transportation Center.

Today in the Sky Reporter Ben Mutzabaugh is out of the office this week on vacation. Instead of the usual Today in the Sky format, Ben will feature a special column highlighting different aspects of the airline industry. Today, Ben takes a look at which airline hub is where. There are a lot of airlines out there, so we'll break it up in two parts. Part one ran yesterday; today features part two. Today in the Sky will return to its normal format on Nov. 22.

Ever wondered how airlines break down geographically? Which airline has hubs where? And where are the "focus cities" — or cities that aren't necessarily hubs, but play a key role in an airline's route network To help you get a handle on where each airline is strong, here's an airline-by-airline list of hubs and focus cities. Think of it as a geography lesson for the airline industry! Today's column covers airlines from Hawaiian to US Airways. Enjoy ...

Hawaiian Airlines
Hub: Honolulu
Additional information: The carrier operates extensive inter-island service in Hawaii, and also serves nine cities on the U.S. mainland (Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Portland (Ore.), Sacramento, San Diego, San Jose, San Francisco and Seattle). Hawaiian also flies to American Samoa, Tahiti and Sydney.