Archive for the 'JetBlue' Category

JetBlue Announces Boston-Dallas

Published
by
Dan Webb
on December 7, 2011
in JetBlue
. 4 Comments

JetBlue has announced that it will launch thrice-daily service from Boston to Dallas/Fort Worth starting May 1st next year as the carrier continues to solidify its Boston presence.

“We’re excited to bring our Boston customers what they’ve been asking for – more options for their business and leisure travel to Dallas/Fort Worth,” said JetBlue’s Vice President Sales and Revenue Management Dennis Corrigan in a news release.

It’s also worth nothing that the announcement comes after Spirit announced last week that it would start service on the route in March, though it will only fly one daily roundtrip. Spirit’s timing is also very different on the DFW-BOS leg – the airline is operating that as a redeye with a 1:00 AM departure and 5:40 AM arrival.

Dallas was one of the few major markets not served by JetBlue from Boston, and it got me thinking what cities still didn’t have JetBlue service. I decided to head on over to the recently-released second quarter DB1B data and find the 20 largest Boston markets, ranked by daily originating passengers. DB1B is quarterly and is also a 10% sample, so I multiplied the passenger numbers by ten and then divided by 91 (the number of days in the second quarter).

A quick check of the data shows that there are only a few unserved markets left from Boston. JetBlue doesn’t fly to LaGuardia, but does serve JFK and Newark. The biggest markets not served are Atlanta and Philadelphia. The former would be interesting to see, as it would mark JetBlue’s return to Atlanta since leaving in 2003, and plus AirTran/Southwest already has a presence there. I would be very interested if JetBlue were to ever give Boston-Philadelphia a shot, as Southwest launched that route in June 2010 but will be ending service this coming February.

JetBlue Adjusts E190 Delivery Schedule

Published
by
Dan Webb
on October 28, 2011
in JetBlue
. 1 Comment

JetBlue has cancelled and deferred some of its orders for the Embraer’s E190 aircraft, a move that comes after the New York-based airline said this summer that it would “optimize” its fleet of the narrrowbody aircraft.

The airline noted in an investor update this week that it had deferred orders for seven 2013-2014 E190 deliveries to 2018, and had also cancelled orders for 12 aircraft that would have been delivered in 2014, 2017, and 2018. By comparing that update to JetBlue’s second quarter 10-Q, we can see how all those changes shake out:

JetBlue also noted this week that “subject to payment of a termination fee, JetBlue may cancel prior to July 31, 2012 seven EMBRAER 190 aircraft scheduled for delivery in 2018.”

The move from JetBlue is interesting, especially because earlier this year the airline said it had reached an agreement to sell 11 E190s to a third party. That deal is now off the table, according to the airline.

In other JetBlue fleet news, the airline has firmed up its Airbus order that was announced earlier this year, according to an Airbus press release and a JetBlue SEC filing. The only item worthy of note I could find is that JetBlue noted that its A320neo deliveries would take place from 2018 through 2021, and said in a separate filing that it would receive 10 of the aircraft in 2018.

JetBlue to Launch BDL-PBI in January

Published
by
Dan Webb
on October 3, 2011
in JetBlue
. 1 Comment

JetBlue announced earlier this today that it will launch service from Hartford to West Palm Beach starting January 12, a news item that brought about a few random thoughts:

  • JetBlue seems to be doing well it Hartford after the airline launched service last November. In addition to the Palm Beach flgihts, the carrier will launch service to San Juan in January.
  • Interestingly, Delta seems to be pulling back on its nonstop flights from Hartford to Florida, which was very unique for a Delta city. The airline flies to Orlando, and also flew to Ft. Myers, Ft. Lauderdale, Tampa, and West Palm this past winter.
  • I can’t find any Delta service to Tampa, Ft. Lauderdale, Ft. Myers, and West Palm for this winter, and I don’t see Orlando past the beginning of January (someone correct me if I’m wrong).
  • A lot of that Delta Florida flying was previously done by Delta Express/Song, by the way.
  • Hartford has this strange ability to hold on to non-hub legacy routes. It’s the only non-cornerstone city in the US to still have American Service to San Juan, and it’s one of the few cities left to have US Airways (albeit Express) flights to Pittsburgh.

On a slightly related note – can JetBlue please come to Providence? Pretty please?

Chart of the Day: JetBlue’s Anchorage Service

Published
by
Dan Webb
on September 29, 2011
in JetBlue
. 6 Comments

Here’s your random factoid of the day…

I love the DOT Form 41 database – it contains a treasure trove of data that will keep an airline dork occupied for a very long period of time! Recently, I was playing around with the data set that contains domestic traffic information. While I usually use it to examine passenger capacity and traffic, the data set also includes freight.

After doing some playing around — I found something very interesting about JetBlue’s service from Anchorage to Long Beach, which launched earlier this year – the route is, by far, dominant in the JetBlue domestic network when it comes to cargo. Note the chart below is listing routes in the direction they are flown. According to the data JetBlue reported to the DOT, there wasn’t any cargo carried in the Long Beach – Anchorage direction.

 

Highlights from JetBlue’s 10-Q

Published
by
Dan Webb
on August 11, 2011
in JetBlue
. 0 Comments

JetBlue filed its 10-Q with the SEC last week – here are a few of the highlights. First, here’s part of the second half outlook:

Due to uncertain economic conditions, we do not anticipate unit revenue growth as strong as we experienced in the first half of the year for the remainder of 2011. However, our strong liquidity position affords us some flexibility to navigate the challenging fuel environment and to re-focus our efforts, if needed, to proactively respond to changes in the demand and pricing environments.

JetBlue yesterday reported its July traffic and estimated that PRASM rose 5% year-over-year – the lowest increase it has reported so far this year.

In terms of ancillary revenue, JetBlue said in its 10-Q that revenue from Even More Space (formerly even more legroom) was up $15 million year-over-year for the first half of 2011, and up $10 million for the second quarter “as a result of increased capacity and revised pricing.” The carrier increased fees for Even More Legroom in March 2011, and also said during its latest earnings call that it would add up to six more even more Even More Space seats “in the very near future.”

Finally – JetBlue has yet to finalize its order with Airbus that was announced at Paris this year. The airline said it plans “to execute a new purchase agreement incorporating the details of this memorandum of understanding with Airbus later this year.”

Items of Note – August 8, 2011

Published
by
Dan Webb
on August 9, 2011
in American, Delta, Frontier, JetBlue and US Airways
. 1 Comment

So, lately I’ve been thinking about changing up the blog format a bit to make the site a bit more news-y. Sometimes there are stories that I just can’t analyze all that much, but I still think are worth a few lines, whether it be a link to a story or few thoughts of my own. I still plan on doing many of my traditional posts, but I want to give this format a try as well. Let me know your thoughts!

Delta Changes Equipment on LAX-HND
According to the always-informative Airline Route blog, later this fall Delta is placing its A330-200s on the Los Angeles – Tokyo (Haneda) route, a capacity reduction from the 777-200s currently operating the flights. Delta re-started service to Haneda from Detroit and Los Angeles in June after suspending flights in response to the March 2011 Japanese earthquake. Flights from Detroit, however, will be ending in a few weeks, something that is enabled by the extended dormancy waiver that Delta recently received from the DOT.

Frontier Announces Winter Florida Service
Frontier announced some seasonal Florida service yesterday. Some of the routes are normal resumptions, but the carrier is also adding new seasonal service from Des Moines to Orlando and Tampa, and from Madison to ORlando. Des Moines-Orlando is interesting as it appears that AirTran/SouthTran/Southwest is no longer in the market. Allegiant, however, flies from Des Moines to both Orlando (Sanford) and St. Petersburg.

The other interesting piece of the release is that service from Milwaukee and Omaha to the Tampa area has shifted back to Tampa International. Last year, Frontier had experimented with service to St. Petersburg from these cities.

Frontier Adds Two New Denver Destinations
The airline also said yesterday that it would add two new destinations from Denver – Little Rock (six times weekly) and Palm Springs (seasonal, thrice weekly). United has a presence in both markets. Meanwhile, Frontier is fine-tuning its capacity, adding a few flights each week from Denver to to Las Vegas, Madison, San Diego, and Santa Barbara for a short period of time.

In Other News…

  • The fight between US Airways and USAPA, the union representing the carrier’s pilots, continues to escalate with the airline now seeking a restraining order against the union. Fun times.
  • Much like Continental and Air France, American now has a new service that allows one to lock in a fare for an extended period of time.
  • Airlines appear to be rolling back the fare increases that came in response to the FAA tax holiday.
  • Vision Airlines announced that it is dropping five cities from its route map – Asheville, Chattanooga, Knoxville, Lafayette, and Shreveport – as part of its winter schedule. The carrier dropped service to a few other cities last month.
  • JetBlue will be operating charter flights to Cuba.

Say Hello to JetBlueFacts.com

Published
by
Dan Webb
on July 15, 2011
in JetBlue
. 0 Comments

JetBlue appears to have followed in the footsteps of American and United, making its own (public) labor negotiations website.

According to a WHOIS search, it appears the domain name JetBlueFacts.com was created on June 10 this year – shortly after the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) had requested that a union election be held. (You can see the JetBlue ALPA Organizing Committee website here.)

In a shock to no one, the company’s position is against ALPA.

“Obviously, I’m not surprised to see national unions have interest in JetBlue. Let’s face it, I think our model is a threat to their continued existence,” says JetBlue CEO Dave Barger in a video posted on the website. ”I’m looking for your support of the company by voting no to ALPA,” he says later.

JetBlue’s pilots have attempted to unionize before with the JetBlue Pilots Association – an effort that failed in 2009. Pilots at the New York-based carrier currently each have their own Pilot Employment Agreement (PEA).

Other parts of the website are pretty crystal clear on JetBlue’s position:

Choosing ALPA  – or any union – isn’t something you take out for a test drive. It is a virtually permanent choice, and one that may impact your career forever. It will also fundamentally change the culture and company we have built working together.

Now that ALPA has filed and requested election, the time has come for you to make your choice, and make your voice heard.  Do you want to continue the work we’ve done together, and continue building the airline that is changing our industry? Do you want to preserve your seat at the table and your individual choices through your individual PEA? Or do you want to change course and follow the lead of the legacy carriers who have come before us? Delegate your seat at the table to someone else? And lose your individual right to choose in favor of the collective will?

The election is currently scheduled for July 26. It would certainly appear that JetBlue views this election as a referendum on the company’s business model and culture. (I could propose that it’s also a referendum on JetBlue in the post-Neelman era.)

Of course,it’s not impossible for an airline to be unionized and still maintain a great culture – Southwest would be the shining example here.

 

Is This Why JetBlue Is Interested in Winglets?

Published
by
Dan Webb
on April 13, 2011
in JetBlue
. 5 Comments

According to Department of Transportation Statistics, 84 JetBlue flights diverted mid-flight during February. That number is not the highest in the industry – Southwest hasdthe most at 210 flights. But on a percentage basis, 0.5% of JetBlue’s flights for the month ended up diverting, by far the highest of all carriers that report their operational data to the DOT.

I decided to focus on the longest domestic flights, and filtered out those only greater than 2300 miles. In this category, 58 JetBlue flights – more than 4% of the total – ended up diverting. This result is far more than other airlines:

Further analysis indicates that 57 of the 58 diverted flights were in the Westbound direction. All of these 57 flights originated from either Boston or JFK. While DOT data doesn’t indicate the reason for diversions, I’m willing to speculate that most of them were due to fuel stops, especially based on the locations of most of the diversions (except the one in Sacramento) and the fact that they are clustered around certain days:

If we look at the next two-highest carriers shown in the earlier chart – US Airways and Continental – both also had issues on Westbound flights, but not on the same scale as JetBlue. 14 of US Airways’ 19 diversions on flights longer than 2,300 miles were from Philadelphia to California destinations(operated with A320s and A321s, mainly). Eight of Continental’s twelve diversions of this stage length were California-bound flights from Newark, primarily flown with the carrier’s 737s, mainly its 737-900ERs.

But neither of these airlines had diversions on the same scale as JetBlue. Plus, they both have other aircraft with better range capabilities in their fleet, while JetBlue does not. (On a side note, I wonder what the diversion rate would look like if JetBlue had a denser A320 configuration.)

So, some kind of fleet investment is probably needed (or significant payload restrictions) to reduce the number of diversions. JetBlue could go out and select to purchase A320s with sharklets or the A320neo, for example. The airline has also pushed for a retrofit option for existing A320s, but so far Airbus has yet to announce such an option for customers.

A Quick Look at Some On-Time Numbers

Published
by
Dan Webb
on February 11, 2011
in JetBlue, Southwest and United
. 1 Comment

I have to admit that I’m really falling in love with the DOT on-time numbers, both the raw numbers and the Air Travel Consumer Report. There’s plenty of stuff to look at but I wanted to share some highlights (and what I want to investigate further) now that the DOT has released December numbers.

For the month, JetBlue came in last, with only 58.6% of its flights arriving on-time – that’s something I want to investigate a little bit more. The harsh weather on the East Coast could have been a large factor there.

Also worthy of further study – Continental and United. For December, United’s on-time performance was a little over 10 points better than Continental’s, but for the whole year its closer (3.8 points). Either way, United has put in a lot of effort to improve its on-time performance, so it will be interesting to watch the integration with Continental’s operation.

But I continue to be interested in Southwest’s results. The carrier’s ranking improved in December, coming in 14th place (it was 16th in November). But there are some other interesting results – the DOT reports that Southwest had 103 flights (or 4% of the total) that were late more than 70% of the time. That’s a small number of flights, but it is also the highest number of the carriers that share data.

I decided to graph the average difference from scheduled departure/arrival times for a few of the major carriers for December, and I found the results pretty interesting, especially Southwest’s:

At first blush, there are some interesting nuggets in this month’s numbers…so hopefully over the next couple of weeks I’ll have more to share.

JetBlue, the E190, and the West Coast

Published
by
Dan Webb
on February 10, 2011
in JetBlue
. 0 Comments

In August 2007, JetBlue CEO Dave Barger said in an interview with Bloomberg that the carrier’s new Embraer 190s would begin operating longer stage lengths and also operate routes on the West Coast. The move came as the E190 operation became more reliable.

“Let that mustang out of the corral….The E190 will now let us explore other geography,” he said.

Government traffic data shows that the E190 began operating in California for JetBlue beginning in May 2008. That data also shows that the E190s stopped operating out of JetBlue’s Long Beach focus city in April 2010 (yes, I realize I’m a few months late here). I decided to ask JetBlue about the change, and here’s what they had to say:

Deploying our E190s back to the East Coast enhanced operational simplicity for JetBlue, allowing us to focus on one fleet type on the West Coast. Additionally, we were able to redeploy the E190 aircraft to popular new business frequencies like DCA to Boston.

And that reasoning makes total sense to me. Just for fun, I decided to look at some government traffic data to find the average scheduled departures for the A320 and E190 out of Long Beach. I found it interesting – the E190 operation would be built up during weaker months while the A320 would reach its peak during the summer:

So once again Long Beach is an all-A320 operation. Will we ever see the E190 make a comeback? I think it’s possible. Long Beach has become more of a regional hub as late, so the E190 could be a fit. What could also be interesting is if JetBlue might ever be able to use Long Beach’s commuter slots for E190 operations.

Anyway – like I said, I’m a few months late here, but I just found it interesting.

JetBlue and South African Plan to Expand Relationship

Published
by
Dan Webb
on February 3, 2011
in JetBlue and South African
. 5 Comments

Last May, JetBlue announced that it had signed an interline agreement with South African Airways that would provide “new and convenient connection options for both SAA and JetBlue customers wishing to travel between the U.S. and southern Africa,” according to JetBlue.

The two airlines are now looking to expand that relationship to include codesharing – this according to a filing made with the Department of Transportation yesterday. In their application, JetBlue and South African say that they plan to begin placing SAA’s code on JetBlue flights beginning on February 15, subject to government approval.

Photo Credit: Russell Hill.

Not surprising, most of the routes that will carry South African’s code are from JFK, but there are a few from Dulles as well. SAA must love operating from JFK, right? I mean, if they’re looking for better connectivity they could give Newark a shot to tap into Continental/United’s massive hub. But JetBlue is most certainly the best option for JFK.

Here’s a list of the routes: Continue reading ‘JetBlue and South African Plan to Expand Relationship’