Archive for the 'JetBlue' CategoryPage 2 of 6

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’

JetBlue To Serve Martha’s Vineyard This Summer

Published
by
Dan Webb
on December 23, 2010
in JetBlue
. 2 Comments

JetBlue announced today that it will launch service from its JFK hub to Martha’s Vineyard, operating from Memorial Day to Labor Day. The airline has said service will be daily and operated with E190s, but it will not release schedules until next month.

While there’s no direct competition from JFK, US Airways flies to Martha’s Vineyard from LaGuardia using Saab 340s operated by Colgan Air. A quick schedule check indicates that those flights will launch in late June, with four flights during the week and reduced serivce on the weekends.

The new flight complements JetBlue’s existing seasonal service from JFK to Nantucket (also E190-operated), which will have two daily flights, and a third flight that operates a few times each week.

While JetBlue’s service to the islands is seasonal, its customers have year-round access to Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard, and other destinations on the Cape through its partnership with Cape Air.

Speaking of Cape Air – I always wished they’d partner up with Southwest and transfer passengers through Providence. (Of course, I’m biased as a Rhode Islander who loves his local airport.) But, alas, JetBlue happened. And speaking of that JetBlue partnership – Cape Air has a nice little hub out of San Juan. I wonder if the JetBlue partnership could be expanded to the Caribbean?

The Bachelor: DCA Slot Edition

Published
by
Dan Webb
on October 28, 2010
in AirTran, JetBlue, Republic, Southwest, Sun Country and US Airways
. 2 Comments

There are two slots (one pair) up for grabs at Washington National – and a few airlines are fighting over them. Picking up slots at a restricted like National is a rare opportunity, and it’s always interesting to see carriers argue about it. Eventually, the DOT will have to choose who should get them. It’s basically like the TV show The Bachelor, I guess. I’ve never watched it, honestly.

Granted, the applications came in a couple of weeks ago, but I’ve really wanted to blog about this.

First – let’s talk about how these slots became available in the first place. There are slots currently being used by Republic for Kansas City service that was inherited from the Midwest acquisition – and that’s the problem. These slots can’t be transferred. Republic argued last year that they should hold on to the slots, noting how they were keeping the Midwest brand and such, but the DOT disagreed:

After careful review, we have concluded that a “transfer” of exemptions has in fact occurred. Midwest, the party to which the awards were granted, has now ceased to exist as a carrier. Unlike Frontier, which was acquired by Republic but still operates as a subsidiary under its own operating certificate, Midwest clearly no longer holds or operates the exemptions, and Republic’s claim to these exemptions arises only as a result of its transaction with Midwest.

Another interesting mention in the DOT’s letter from November:

Moreover, the fact that Midwest operated relatively few slots was deemed a key factor in its qualifying for award of the slot slide exemptions. When Midwest’s various applications for the five slot slides were considered, the Department noted in approving them that Midwest met a statutory “exceptional circumstances” requirement in part because it had operational limitations due to holding only a limited number of slots at DCA. Based on FAA August 2009 data, we understand that Republic holds over one hundred exemptions at DCA – a fact that clearly distinguishes its current status from that of Midwest when Midwest was awarded the exemptions.

This is an interesting situation for Republic. Of course, those slots are tied up with their US Airways Express operation at DCA. In its application for the slots a few weeks ago (which I’ll be getting into more shortly), Republic argued:

RJET obtained the slots in a sale/leaseback transaction with US Airways in 2005, as a financing mechanism to enable US Airways to raise additional money…US Airways has retained complete control over and has the exclusive right to use the slots. Importantly, although RJET is listed as the holder of record of those slots, Republic has no control over the use of, nor can it sell, the DCA slots. Moreover, US Airways has the right to repurchase the commuter slots at any time.

Anyway – after analyzing the situation, the DOT decided to launch a proceeding to determine what airline should receive the slots. A quick summary of the applications.

Republic, not surprisingly, wants to hold on to the slots for its current Kansas City service. These slots are used for one of the airline’s three Kansas City flights under its branded service. “Failure to grant the slot exemptions to Republic would result in substantial harm to leisure, business, and government travelers, the affected local and beyond communities, and inter-carrier competition,” says the airline in its application. The carrier is “proposing to operate Stage 3-compliant, 99-seat ERJ-190 aircraft between DCA and MCI with these two slot exemptions, effective December 1, 2010″ and adds that “effective December 1, 2010, all three of Republic’s nonstop DCA-MCI services will
be operated with 99-seat ERJ-190 aircraft.” Right now, this is an E-170 route. Just for reference, US Airways also has DCA-MCI service, some of which is provided by Republic.

Next up is AirTran, looking to obtain the slots the slots for service to Ft. Myers (a market it already serves from DCA) or Sarasota. The airline doesn’t commit to an aircraft type, saying it will use either 717s or 737-700s. I just found this application a bit interesting, since in the past AirTran has tried to get the ability to reduce its Ft. Myers service. Meanwhile, US Airways serves both of these markets, but it appears that Ft. Myers flights are seasonal.

Speaking of US Airways, the carrier has tossed its hat in the ring as well, proposing service to Pensacola. This is the “third within perimeter slot allocation proceeding in four years in which US Airways has applied,” the airline notes. Service would be operated with E-175s during the summer and 170s during the winter. “With 99-seat Embraer EMB-190s a part of US Airways’ fleet, US Airways could further increase seats should demand warrant,” US Airways adds.

Southwest has also applied for the slots for its own flights to Kansas City. Had this been a year or two ago, I would’ve been shocked by this application, but the airline publicly showed its interest in DCA with the proposed slot swap between US Airways and Delta, which is now tied up in court. I have to think – does this application really make sense for Southwest when we exclude AirTran? Historically speaking, Southwest has avoided small stations, with only a handful of cities having less than ten daily departures. Having an airport with only one departure is very un-Southwest-y, at least to me.

And, to save the best/most interesting for last – Sun Country is giving this a whirl as well, for flights to Lansing. Why Lansing? Well, the DOT has said that these slots must be used for small or medium hub airports, and Sun Country is considering building up there. But what’s more interesting is that Sun Country is planning for the Lansing flights to originate and end in Minneapolis. So here Sun Country can say they’re providing service to a smaller city while providing new competition with Delta. In terms of the actual application – I’m not entirely sure what was going on here. Sun Country submitted its original application, and then corrected it. Based on the differences in the schedule listed in the appendices of both, it appears that Sun Country originally thought they could run two roundtrips.

What I found very interesting, however, is who didn’t apply. JetBlue said in a March 3 letter to the DOT that it was “prepared to use the two AIR-2l slots immediately,” yet they didn’t apply. I asked them why not, and here’s what they had to say:

JetBlue regrets that DCA remains artificially restricted, and while we are grateful that Congress has begun to shine light on this [with the recent MWAA oversight hearing before the Senate Aviation Subcommittee], acquiring one slot pair, limited to specific cities defined by the government and not by the free market or by JetBlue itself, made such an application economically unfeasible. We look forward to greater access opportunities in the future.

Anyway – that’s just the applications. The airlines have recently submitted their responses to the applications of the competing airlines, and that’s where this really gets fun. Expect a post about those in the next few days.

Meanwhile – also up for grabs are Republic/Midwest’s five slot slides. What is a slot slide, you ask? Basically, each slot is assigned for a time period, but under certain conditions (generally, to boost competition) the DOT will allow an airline to “slide” that slot do another time of the day. The DOT said in its announcement for this proceeding that it “will conduct a separate proceeding with regard to Republic’s five slot slide exemptions at DCA.”

More San Juan Route Changes

Published
by
Dan Webb
on October 5, 2010
in AirTran, American and JetBlue
. 0 Comments

Since I last posted about San Juan, a couple of other route announcements took place that I wanted to mention.

First, AirTran will be boosting its current Baltimore flights to daily service in April – right after American pulls out of the market. Not exactly a shocker but makes perfect sense.

Meanwhile, JetBlue announced yesterday it will launch flights from Jacksonville, with daily service beginning on February 17. The most interesting thing, which was picked up by the airliners.net forums, is that JetBlue is now referring to San Juan as a “focus city.”

I also got a couple of other details from American about their reductions. I had originally listed April 6 as the date of the change, though some flights are ending a couple of days earlier. Basically, all the adjustments will be done by April 6. In addition, American has also confirmed that once the cuts are done, that there will be no more service to Anguilla or Nevis.

Though, some very observant commenters on my last San Juan post did note that Cape Air will be launching San Juan to Anguilla service this December.

Anyway – this one will be interesting to follow. Are there any opportunities for Cape Air, or anyone else, for the interisland routes? Will JetBlue continue to build it’s new focus city?

JetBlue’s Interesting Newark Move

Published
by
Dan Webb
on September 1, 2010
in JetBlue
. 0 Comments

Yesterday, JetBlue announced that they would launch four daily flights from Boston to Newark, starting in early May. It’s an interesting move, considering that the airline’s current service is only to leisure destinations, with five dailies to Orlando, three to Lauderdale, and one each to West Palm, Fort Myers, and Tampa.

The timing of the launch and the announcement certainly would make one think that the move is motivated by Southwest’s announcement that it will be coming to Newark next year. I do wonder if Southwest has looked at the market. While doing Boston – NYC would be difficult out of LaGuardia with only eight slots – it does have more flexibility at Newark with 18.

Either way, I like what JetBlue’s doing here – just look at this data from the Consumer Air Fare Report (Table 1A) for the first quarter of this year:

Basically the same amount of passengers as JFK at fares that are 165% higher. Nice.  Lots of Continental’s passengers  on its BOS-EWR flights are connecting, but for those who are traveling between the two cities the airline is making a killing.

So what does this do to JetBlue’s existing service? Well, right now the airline has eight flights to JFK, but when Newark starts there will only be six, so that shrinks a bit.

But I’m interested in how JetBlue does here. It seems they can really stimulate demand, but Continental sports a much more robust schedule here, too.

I am also wondering where the Newark slots are coming from. Is the Florida service getting trimmed down? Or is JetBlue acquiring them in another way? No official comment from JetBlue on that front yet.

Note: JetBlue’s press release reported a DOT number of $280 for EWR. Not exactly sure where it’s coming from, but for consistency’s sake I’m using the number from the report.

Looking at BOS-BWI…Again

Published
by
Dan Webb
on May 26, 2010
in AirTran, JetBlue and Southwest
. 2 Comments

Yesterday evening was very exciting in the Webb household…it was the first time I had really tried to do any kind of serious analysis using the DOT’s DB1B data, which looks at origin and destination passengers. (I realize this is not considered exciting by anyone else.) It can provide some great insights, as long as you know what you’re doing. Sadly, I can’t say I exactly do. :D

But last night I decided it was time to dive in and start figuring out things for myself by looking into a market I have written about here plenty of times before – Boston to Baltimore (I just looked at that direction, and only on nonstop flights). And with the help of a friend I think I found some interesting things.

The DB1B data is based on a survey of 10% of tickets. So we can estimate the total number of origin and destination passengers for one quarter if we multiply the number by ten. And by using the segment data in Form 41 we know how many passengers were on the flights – so therefore we can estimate how many of the passengers are O&D and how many are on connecting itineraries.

I don’t think these results are too surprising. AirTran and Southwest have Baltimore hubs, and the latter’s network there is more robust. Yes, JetBlue has connections out of Boston for sure, but that’s not really the most convenient connecting point to get to Baltimore as it involves some backtracking.

But this also has implications for the three carriers that have been duking it out, as all three have been running promotions on and off for months. For AirTran and Southwest, they’re more “immune” from fare sales and promotions on the route since more of their traffic isn’t local.

Now let’s look at yields to get a picture of revenue. These numbers might look a bit high for a market with three LCCs competing,  but yields are down about 10 cents year over year.

I was surprised Southwest’s yield was the highest, considering they are a new entrant. This also bodes well for them from a RASM perspective as their load factor – 86.5% – was the highest as well. (JetBlue has a 73.8% load factor,  and it was 78% for AirTran.) Of course once we get into profitability things get more complex as then one has to start allocating revenue from connecting itineraries. Plus figuring out costs for one route can get complicated. But, to keep things simple, AirTran and Southwest have historically had lower costs than JetBlue.

And finally…market share. Again, this is looking at originating BOS traffic going to BWI on nonstop flights.

As you can see there’s no dominant player right now, but AirTran take the top honors here. Not very surprising since they still have the highest frequency here.

Anyway…hope you found that interesting. I wonder what the future of this route is. The percentage of connecting passengers on Southwest might change as the airline builds nonstops out of Boston. And I do wonder what th profitability is for each carrier. Right now, JetBlue seems to be the weak carrier here, and I wonder how long they’ll keep it up. The airline has said they will be maintaining service to all three DC-area airports from Boston, but I’m sure the yields for flights to Reagan look much more attractive.

JetBlue Heads to Hartford

Published
by
Dan Webb
on April 20, 2010
in JetBlue
. 1 Comment

Well, this was rumored last week, but yesterday JetBlue officially announced that it would be launching service to Hartford beginning on November 17. The airport will a total of four daily departures – two to Orlando, and two to Fort Lauderdale. The new flying increases competition on existing route but also opens up some nice connecting opportunities to the Caribbean.

The routes do face some competition. Southwest is a player on the Orlando route, with three nonstops. Recently Southwest has also been flying a nonstop to Fort Lauderdale, but only on Saturdays. But in addition to its usual hub flying, Delta flies to Florida from Hartford as well. The airline serves Orlando, Fort Lauderdale, Tampa, and West Palm nonstop from Hartford – some of that flight has been taken over by mainline Delta from the defunct airline-within-an-airline concepts Song and Delta Express.

My guess is that JetBlue is hoping that Delta might cut some flying here, especially when it comes to Lauderdale – the carrier has already reduced capacity on that route by turning it into seasonal flying. Right now the nonstop will cease next week on the 30th and will return on November 20. Then, on December 16 a second daily flight is scheduled to be added.

Of course, as a loyal Providence flyer, this announcement makes me hopeful. No, I don’t think a JetBlue announcement is eminent or anything like that, but nevertheless it’s nice to see some growth in New England that isn’t out of Boston.

JetBlue and American To Establish Partnership

Published
by
Dan Webb
on March 31, 2010
in American and JetBlue
. 2 Comments

I have established a new rule of thumb – whenever I don’t have time to write, an exciting airline announcement comes out. For example, I’ve been busy studying for a marketing exam, and today JetBlue and American announced a partnership, which I think is huge!

What’s motivating this partnership? I think JFK is the biggest part here – Delta has said on many occasions that they want to “win” New York, with efforts both at LaGuardia and Kennedy. JetBlue and American are the other two big players at JFK, so by partnering up and creating an interline agreement the two players can join forces and increase competition with Delta.

The interline agreement is only for routes where the two airlines aren’t competing with one another – so American customers will be able to book JetBlue nonstops out of JFK . On the JetBlue side, this means that those travelers will be able to tap into American’s network, especially the airline’s international network out of JFK. More on that in the a minute. There will be interlining taking place in Boston, as well. For American fliers this opens up eighteen new destinations.

At JFK JetBlue will also be giving up twelve slot pairs at JFK to American. Of course, American has to make a good deal to get that number of slots, so they will be sending eight DCA slots over to JetBlue, who plans to start service there in November. Some readers might remember that as part of the new proposed Delta/US Airways slot swap deal US would give JetBlue five slots there. If JetBlue ends up getting all thirteen slots (the US/DL deal would have to be approved for that to happen), it could certainly start running plenty of frequencies to DCA from Boston or New York. Does JetBlue want to compete with the US Airways or Delta Shuttles? Or will they do something else with it? Hm. That one will be fun to watch, and I think JetBlue’s final strategy is contingent on the US Airways/Delta deal being approved. American will also give JetBlue a single slot at White Plains.

But back to the agreement over at JFK. My big question here is what Lufthansa thinks of this deal. The carrier holds a 17.2% stake in JetBlue and has two seats on the company’s board, and the airlines began codeshare operations a few months ago. Of course, there are some markets where American makes total sense for international connections, like this in South America. But there is some overlap on the European routes, for sure.

Anyway, on the domestic side, I think this makes total sense for American and JetBlue to beef up competition with Delta, and having JetBlue becoming a player at Reagan National is certainly exciting. But my big questions is what this means on the international side of things. Those are my initial thoughts for now – though I’m sure there will be more to discuss once everyone gets to process this.

Delta and US Airways Adjust Slot Swap

Published
by
Dan Webb
on March 24, 2010
in AirTran, Delta, JetBlue, Spirit, US Airways and WestJet
. 3 Comments

Remember the slot swap? The one that many thought were dead when the DOT announced the concessions that it would require? Well, US Airways and Delta announced their own compromise earlier this week that’s very interesting. The airlines says that if this idea isn’t approved by the DOT, the deal’s off. So here’s the breakdown of the deal.

First, let’s take a look at Washington-National just because it’s the simpler one. DOT/FAA wanted US Airways to give up 14 of its 42 (33%!) of its new slots, a pretty hefty piece of the pie. US Airways has said that if the deal is approve, it will give JetBlue five slots at the airport. DOT wanted carriers that didn’t serve or had a small presence at DCA and LGA, and JetBlue fits the bill since DCA would be a brand new destination for them. JetBlue has said that they’re interested in the airport, though it’s kind of tough to guess where they’ll serve. For example, flights to their hubs in Boston and New York would make sense for connecting traffic, but there’s plenty of capacity in these markets already. And that pesky perimeter rule prevents service to the West Coast. Florida service could be likely as well.

Next up is LaGuardia, where Delta plans to sell up to five slots each to AirTran, Spirit, and WestJet. AirTran and Spirit are already there, but their share is small enough (less than 5% of slots) to satisfy the DOT’s guidelines. If the deal were to go through, this would be WestJet’s second attempt at LaGuardia service after cutting Toronto flights in 2005. Right now the airline is present in New York with a seasonal flight to Calgary from Newark, though that couldn’t be moved over due the perimeter rule. So Toronto and Montreal would be the big markets here, both of which already have Air Canada service. Porter goes to Newark, too.

So what will the DOT think of this one? I’m not so sure. For LaGuardia Delta comes close to what the DOT wanted by giving up 15 slots (DOT was throwing around the number 20), or 75% of what the DOT was suggesting. But US Airways is only offering up 35% of the DOT’s suggest divestiture.

But if this works out, it’s certainly good news for Delta and US Airways. By selling slots to specific carriers and only giving up to five total, they get to control the amount of competition present at the airports. And the limited amount of competition was something that was brought up by Southwest in Monday filing on the slot swap – and they were talking about the larger number of slots that was being suggested by the DOT.

Southwest and a few other carriers submitted comments to the DOT about the deal earlier this week, and tomorrow I’ll be covering those in more detail.

A Quick Look at Boston-Baltimore

Published
by
Dan Webb
on March 18, 2010
in AirTran, JetBlue and Southwest
. 5 Comments

Earlier this week, AirTran said it would be offering double A+ Rewards credits between Boston and Baltimore for trips booked and flown between March 15 and May 21. The airline has run a similar promotion before, but has now sweetened the pot by making those bonus credits eligible for elite status. My guess is that AirTran wants to build up some loyalty, since right now consumers only concerned about price can find a great fare Southwest, AirTran, or JetBlue.

That promotion made me want to investigate the market by looking into T100 data – and it’s very interesting to look at. Traffic has flourished with passenger counts increasing over 150% year-over-year in December (the most recent data). And control of the market has shifted a good amount. In December 2008, AirTran had over 70% of the market with some competition from Comair. In December 2009, AirTran was still the dominant carrier, but its market share had eroded to 48%.

Fares on the route decreased over 28% to $95.65 in the third quarter of 2009 compared to the same period the year prior. That number, however, doesn’t paint a clear picture since Southwest entered in the middle of August and JetBlue launched in September. We’ll probably get some more clarity once the DOT’s fourth quarter data is released.

But this is a market that I’m very interested in and want to study further, especially in terms of connecting passengers. For example, how many of Southwest’s passengers are using Baltimore to get to the rest of their network? The same question can be asked for AirTran. Meanwhile, how many JetBlue passengers on the route are going to Boston to tap into their network? Hopefully my professors will be kind in the homework department in the near future so I can check things like that out. :D