As its site says, Independence Air is brand new and 14 years old at the same time. Independence Air is really just a new face on 15-year-old Atlantic Coast Airlines Holdings Inc. (ACA), which operated regional feeder jets for United Airlines and Delta Air Lines.

They flew their first passengers in 1989, as a Dulles-based partner to United Airlines. In 2002, they started flying for Delta Air Lines as the Delta Connection as well. When United filed for bankruptcy and tried to reduce the amount it paid Atlantic Coast to operate the feeder flights, Atlantic Coast elected to go its own way.

They had good operating history as a regional carrier -- after all, Atlantic Coast had flown the airplanes.

There was one trick, Independence Air had left the marketing, reservations and customer service to United and Delta -- they had to figure this all out before they launched as a separate airline. As it turns out, the folks at ACA had been thinking about launching a low fare airline for quite some time.

And so it was that on November 19, 2003, Independence Air was born. Independence Air Flight 1995 pushed back from Dulles's Gate 2A at 6:29 a.m. -- one minute ahead of schedule -- bound for Atlanta.

They dedicated themselves to creating a low-fare airline that was based on the following 6 customer-driven tenets:

• i am about the customer first
• i am genuine
• i am about integrity
• i am about operational excellence
• i am innovative
• i am enthusiastic

To make sure that they are, they've crafted the following mission statements and corresponding operating tactics.

The customer must believe that "i can fly on my budget". To make sure that customers feel this way, Independence simplified their fare structure to only have four fare types. This makes it possible to have fares that are easy to understand and easy to book on every flight, every day.

The customer must believe that "i can fly on my schedule" and "i can fly from my airport" They operate hundreds of non-stop flights a day from their Dulles hub to over 35 destinations. In addition, they fly regularly from the list of cities at the bottom of this page.

The customer must believe that "i can fly my way" The folks at Independence Air have totally changed the airline industry. Independence Air has seat assignments, but they strive to make sure that no intentional over-booking occurs. Even their planes are different. They fly sleek, comfortable, 50-seat Bombardier CRJ-200s with leather seats.

So it seems they understand customer service, even though they'd never done it before.

But how did it go when the folks at Independence had to create their own brand? They made some surprising decisions. Currently, reservations for Independence can be made only through the airline's Web site or toll-free phone number. Independence Air is focused on their distribution costs and they decided not to pay to be listed on Orbitz, Travelocity or Expedia Web sites. These decisions have been revisited lately by the company, and currently Independence Air sells through the big GDS (Worldspan, Amadeus and Sabre) as well as some of the larger Internet sites.

CEO Kerry Skeen decided to spend the company's money on advertising and community sponsorships. He hired political consultants Carville and his wife, Mary Matalin, as well as comedian Dennis Miller, soccer star Mia Hamm and musician Chuck Berry for its pitches and started talking to folks on the radio about the new company.

Because Independence Air elected to drive people to their site and 800 number to book, they had to take care to build a site that folks would be able to use. The site, located at www.flyi.com, is certainly usable. It's reminiscent of Jetblue's site. It's clean and easy to use, with a prominent booking engine on the homepage. It also takes the opportunity to impart some of the airline's brand and personality to the user by incorporating pithy sayings and contemporary graphics. If you're flying to the cities below list, you should give Independence Air and www.flyi.com a try!

Independence Air currently flies to: Albany, NY (ALB) Atlanta, GA (ATL), Boston, MA (BOS), Buffalo, NY (BUF), Burlington, VT (BTV), Charleston, SC (CHS), Charleston, WV (CRW), Charlotte, NC (CLT), Chicago-OHare, IL (ORD), Cleveland, OH (CLE), Columbia, SC (CAE), Columbus, OH (CMH), Detroit, MI (DTW), Fort Myers, FL (RSW), Greensboro, NC (GSO),Greenville-Spartanburg, SC (GSP), Hartford, CT (BDL), Huntsville, AL (HSV), Indianapolis, IN (IND), Jacksonville, FL (JAX), Knoxville, TN (TYS), Las Vegas, NV (LAS), Los Angeles, CA (LAX), Louisville, KY (SDF), Manchester, NH (MHT), Nashville, TN (BNA), New York-Kennedy, NY (JFK), Newark, NJ (EWR), Norfolk, VA (ORF), Orlando, FL (MCO), Pittsburgh, PA (PIT), Portland, ME (PWM), Providence, RI (PVD), Raleigh-Durham, NC (RDU), Rochester, NY (ROC), San Diego (SAN), San Francisco, CA (SFO), San Jose, CA (SJC), Savannah, GA (SAV), Seattle-Tacoma,WA (SEA), Stewart-Newburgh, NY (SWF), Syracuse, NY (SYR), Tampa, FL (TPA), Washington-Dulles, VA (IAD), West Palm Beach, FL (PBI), White Plains, NY (HPN)

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