we take a daytrip to Columbus, Ohio on Portsmouth’s newest airline

The Seacoast looks much different from a height of 30,000 feet. Peering out the window of an A319 jet, sipping a two-dollar cup of coffee and feeling the soft caress of leather upholstered seats, I was finally able to comprehend the geographic layout of Portsmouth. I was riding aboard the first Skybus flight ever to depart from Pease International Airport, which took off on the morning of Wednesday, May 23.

My flight was bound for the Midwest city of Columbus, Ohio, which I had never previously visited. A Skybus ticket to Columbus is only $10, and discovering for yourself what a new place is all about can prove priceless.

Skybus is modeled after the European air carrier Ryanair, which flies to secondary cities in order to cut costs and offer lower fares. All Skybus flights leaving Portsmouth fly directly to the airline’s hub in Columbus. From there, passengers can fly to other cities like Burbank, California or Kansas City, Missouri. Skybus conducts all its transactions over the Internet. The company sold 90,000 tickets on the first day it took reservations. As of last week, Skybus had sold 250,000 tickets, and several more destinations will be added to its itinerary within the next couple of months.   

Small airports often walk a thin line between quaint convenience and barren inadequacy, but Pease tiptoes this line with agility. The terminal is comfortable but in no way luxurious. On the morning of Skybus’s ceremonious first flight from Portsmouth, the airport was festively decorated with bright orange balloons and smiling staff members. As one of many cost-cutting strategies Skybus employs, passengers check in electronically. Other money-making strategies include fast turnaround times at the airports and retail sales on the planes. 

“It’s not so much that we have to find additional revenue. We make very good revenue on our airplanes,” Skybus CEO Bill Diffenderffer said during an interview on the plane. “The cost of fuel is 35 percent of your operating costs, and we have the most fuel-efficient airplanes in the sky relative to the kind of market we serve. The important point is that we got our costs really low.”

Before the flight took off, members of the media swarmed the terminal like quote-grubbing locusts. Officials from Pease were also present, as was Diffenderffer, who would board the inaugural flight. Passengers walked out to the plane, which was parked a short distance from the terminal. A large advertisement for Nationwide Insurance was plastered on the plane’s side. This is another way Skybus plans to make money—selling advertisements that make its planes look like NASCAR racers.

There were about 50 passengers and three perky flight attendants onboard, which has capacity for 150 customers. Everyone gets leather seats on the jets and there is no first or second class. It’s the democratization of air travel—tickets are cheap and everyone pays for his own food and drinks. The low end of the menu is a breakfast sandwich costing $8. The high-end item is a meat loaf platter with mashed potatoes and glazed carrots, which costs $10. A gin and tonic costs $7 and my bag of trail mix cost $2. Flight attendants earn commission on every item sold during the flight; They are expected to have some sales experience when they apply to Skybus.

From the Columbus airport, you can pay $1.50 for a bus ride into town, but I wouldn’t recommend it. A drive that should take 20 minutes ends up lasting an hour. Public transportation is an issue the city is actively addressing in order to attract green-savvy young professionals.

The bus dropped photographer Aaron Rhode and me off at the corner of East Livingston Avenue and Mohawk
Street, near the landmark delicatessen Katzinger’s. The colorful deli offers a variety of specialty foods and a novel-sized menu of sandwiches, which come in two sizes: “The Big One” or “The Huge One.” A Budweiser and a Norman’s Special II, which has rosemary and garlic roast beef, oven-roasted turkey breast, Muenster cheese, lettuce, sweet red onion and homemade Russian dressing on hand-sliced Jewish rye, cost me $14, but was well worth it.   

Katzinger’s is on the edge of German Village, originally settled by German immigrants in the 1830s. Cobblestone streets and beautifully restored architecture create a historic atmosphere, which blends well with the more modern shops and restaurants that appear every couple of blocks. It was a pleasant surprise to see that upscale establishments haven’t made an all-out assault on the charming, residential neighborhood.

Adjacent to German Village is the Brewery District, which, to our disappointment, does not have any working breweries. When the Germans first settled in Columbus, they established several breweries, which flourished and created vast fortunes for early pioneers. Now the district is home to popular restaurants, condos and office space.

Our next stop was the Ohio Statehouse, a magnificent example of Greek revival architecture built in 1839. Within walking distance is the North Market, a foodie’s dream come true housed in an old army surplus warehouse. Fresh meat, exotic cheeses, local produce, food stands, handmade crafts and fresh-baked bread can all be found here. Most of the businesses have a penchant for local products, and each Saturday a farmers market sets up shop in the parking lot. “Curds and Whey: The North Market Cheese Corner” is owned by self-described cheesemonger Michael Kast. He offers more than 500 varieties of cheese, with soft cheese and Brie being the most popular. “I’ve tasted every cheese in the case,” he said.

Outside the market, a Hula-Hooper dressed in little yellow shorts and a tight orange T-shirt was training to set the Guinness world record for Hula-Hooping and had been going at it for seven hours straight. The record is 90 hours.

Around the corner from North Market is the Short North District, a stretch considered the Soho of Columbus. Funky boutiques, elegant art galleries and a variety of restaurants populate this section of town. “Success breeds success,” said Patty Donehey Geiger, who is in charge of media relations for Experience Columbus. She explained that 15 years ago the entire neighborhood was run down, but after a few successful businesses moved in, the district took off. The first Saturday of every month is Gallery Hop, during which art galleries stay open late and several venues offer live music. “It’s shoulder to shoulder,” Geiger said. 

The final stop before catching the 7 p.m. flight back to Portsmouth was the Columbus Museum of Art. What this museum lacks in physical size, it more than makes up for in the breadth of its collection and the innovation of its exhibits. The museum recently instituted a cell phone tour, which allows visitors to dial a certain number and hear about a particular piece of art. At Claude Monet’s Weeping Willow (1918), I discovered that the piece was painted when the artist was 80 years old. By that time, the artist had lost much of his vision.

The Schumacher Gallery is also noteworthy. The gallery crowds a collection of portraits floor to ceiling, overwhelming the visitor with color and the staring eyes of classical figures. The traveling exhibit on display during our visit was called “Optic Nerve: Perceptual Art of the 1960s.” The museum just launched an $80 million capital campaign in order to expand and renovate the existing structure, which will hopefully be finished in time for Columbus’ bicentennial celebration in 2012. 
The trip confirmed the stereotype of Midwestern hospitality. Most people were very friendly and excited to show off their hometown. “It’s a slice of Americana with a big city edge,” Geiger said. “We have a mix of small town friendliness with big city fun.”

Back at the airport seven hours later, a beer from the Columbus Brewing Company seemed like the perfect way to wrap up my trip. I chose the pale ale, which slaked my frustration upon discovering my return flight had been delayed by 90 minutes. But as Diffenderffer told a Boston Globe reporter earlier that day, it only takes 14 minutes from the time the airplane parks at Pease to when passengers pick up their baggage. And that’s not bad.