Monthly Archive for December, 2011Page 2 of 2

JetBlue Confirms Slot Swap Wins (And Other Slot-Swap Related Things)

Published
by
Dan Webb
on December 5, 2011
in Uncategorized
. 1 Comment

JetBlue announced last week that it was the winner of slot bundles at LaGaurdia and Washington-National, confirming earlier an earlier report made by Bloomberg after the auction was concluded. Two bundles of eight slots pairs were offered at LaGuardia, while only one was available for bidding at National. WestJet was the winner of the other slot bundle at LaGaurdia.

The FAA has also made more data about the auction process available to the public. The agency had previously posted the amount of the bids, but until late last week had withheld the identities of the bidding airlines. At the end of the post I’ve listed all the bids, sorted by amount, but there are a few specific bids that I think are worthy of some further discussion.

First, I would’ve loved to see what flying Frontier would add out of National. The carrier recently announced from the airport to Grand Rapids and Madison, and I wonder if they would have used the slots to add even more destinations from the airport or building up existing routes.

Also interesting was Sun Country’s bid for LaGuardia slots. The airline already has a presence in New York, as one of its few year-round routes is service from Minneapolis to JFK. I really don’t know how they’d use the slots. Their expertise is leisure routes, so maybe we could have seen some flying down South, but then again they’ve also added routes like Washington-National to Lansing.

Allegiant’s failed bid for LaGuardia slots makes me wonder if they’ll continue pursuing New York service. Slots at JFK, LaGuardia, and Newark aren’t always the easiest to obtain. One thought that popped into my head is that the company could try serving Islip or Newburgh, but I’m not sure how feasible that is. (Thoughts? Put them in the comments.)

While the completion of the auction is an important milestone in the slot swap deal, there’s plenty of other interesting details that have yet to emerge. Neither JetBlue nor WestJet have announced how they will be using their new slots, and I’m sure we’ll be hearing more from Delta and US Airways about how their LaGuardia and National schedules will be changing.

Some Interesting Bits of News In American’s 777-300ER News Release

Published
by
Dan Webb
on December 1, 2011
in American
. 0 Comments

The day after announcing its decision to enter bankruptcy, American released some more details about its 777-300ER aircraft, which are slated to begin delivery next year.

The carrier said yesterday that it “is scheduled to take delivery of 10 state-of-the-art Boeing 777-300ERs in 2012 through 2013,” which is interesting because that’s one more than American had previously reported. (American had originally started with an order for two of the type.) London will be the first market for the new aircraft.

Yesterday’s news release also has some interesting bits about the 777-300ER product, though not many details are given:

  • The aircraft will have “Wi-Fi capability to keep customers connected while traveling internationally,” though no further details were given. This announcement was interesting, especially considering United’s recently-announced efforts to bring connectivity to more aircraft types, including international aircraft.
  • American also plans to “offer an Economy Class premium seat product, which will include additional legroom for seats in the forward portion of the cabin.” United was alone for awhile in offering an enhanced legroom product, so it’s interesting to see American jump in after Delta.
  • The airline also mentions that “The Business Class cabin will also be outfitted with fully lie flat seats.” I haven’t been able to find many other details, but that seems like a nice improvement from American’s currently angled seat in Business Class.