Independence Air Opens Sales, and Rival's Fares Fall

Dulles May Soon See Price War

Independence Air, the newborn low-fare carrier of Dulles-based Atlantic Coast Airlines Holdings Inc., began selling tickets yesterday as it unveiled a 35-city system that will put it in direct competition with United Airlines on many routes.

United, Atlantic Coast's former marketing partner, immediately matched Independence fares on competing routes, marking the likely start of a fare war at Dulles -- a hub for both carriers.

Independence will fly mostly to mid-size cities in the eastern half of the United States that tend to have high fares. It had flown to many of those cities as a regional affiliate for United, which is reorganizing in bankruptcy. Independence now will fly those routes more frequently. It also will compete on a somewhat smaller scale with Arlington-based US Airways, which emerged from bankruptcy last year but again is seeking concessions from employees to survive.

Flights will begin June 16 between Dulles and Chicago O'Hare, Newark, Boston, Atlanta and Raleigh/Durham, N.C., using 50-seat regional jets. More cities will be added in intervals over the summer, until Sept. 1.

"Now come a whole bunch of other questions: Can they actually deliver?" said Adam M. Pilarski, senior vice president of Avitas Inc., a Chantilly aviation consulting firm. "What will be the service? Will they be on time? Will things flow the way they want to? . . . It's a blank page."

One of Independence Air's prime routes will be between Dulles and John F. Kennedy Airport in New York. The airline will have 13 departures a day, starting Aug. 1. United, which flies the same route seven times a day, yesterday matched Independence's fares, which start at $49 one way. Before Independence's announcement, United had fares that ranged from $65 to $233 one way for the same route.

Also, Independence plans eight daily flights between Dulles and Pittsburgh, twice as many as US Airways, which has a hub in Pittsburgh.

"Independence Air is really, really going after them," said Terry Trippler, president of terrytrippler.com, a travel information site. "This is kind of like divorcing your wife and marrying her sister."

Filling all those seats will be one of the company's biggest challenges. To save money, Independence is selling tickets only by phone, through Independence kiosks at Dulles and through its own Web site, www.flyi.com.

Its flights will not appear on such widely used online services as Travelocity and Orbitz. Instead, Atlantic Coast will spend $30 million on advertisements, hoping passengers will be attracted by set walk-up prices, no Saturday night stay requirement and a promise to never overbook a flight. Some of the ads feature political spouses James Carville and Mary Matalin, comedian Dennis Miller and soccer star Mia Hamm.