Skybus CEO Rejecting Skeptics

To be sure, most people in the airline industry view Skybus as a joke. After all, there's a reason no commercial airlines fly to Chicopee, Mass., or St. Augustine, Fla., but both will get Skybus flights next month.

Columbus might look like a friendly, out-of-the-way place to base an airline, but don't be fooled. The airport is dominated by Southwest(LUV Quote), which last week fired a shot across the bow at Skybus. For one day, it offered one-way Columbus fares as low as $15. Note to Skybus: You have $160 million. Southwest has $1.9 billion. Don't make them mad.

Airline industry disdain doesn't discourage Diffenderffer, who recalls a Mark Twain quote: "Whenever you find that you are on the side of the majority, it is time to reform." Diffenderffer, 56, says his model is successful in Europe and his investors, at least, are believers.

The head of Skybus has 30 years in the travel industry. He started as an Eastern Airlines attorney and had stints as CEO at SystemOne and a travel software company. He is pleased, he says, that he can act on the concepts espoused in his book, The Samurai Leader, which is "all about seeing great opportunities and having the fearlessness to go after them and the wisdom to succeed."

Two weeks ago, Diffenderffer, dressed in jeans and a crumpled white shirt, bounded off the inaugural Columbus-Greensboro flight, which arrived three hours late, and began quizzing passengers about whether they were treated well. Some were not too miserable to respond positively.