JetBlue TrueBlue - What are the odds of JetBlue serving Indianapolis?

Or another Midwestern airport?

I've flown Southwest, ATA and even Frontier for low-fair airlines and found them relatively good for the cost. What do you expect when fares top out at $200 or less on most roundtrip flights? At least they always seem to arrive/depart on time in my experience.

I ask about JetBlue since I've seen nothing about their entry into a Midwestern market. Indy is a good market but relatively full. However, the major carriers here (American, United, and especially USAir) seem to be cutting their schedules, so I wonder if opportunities are growing. Southwest definitely seems to have built market share here over the past five years.

BTT...perhaps the odds are better knowing that JetBlue wants to expand in the near future. But does that include adding some new cities? Anyone? Thoughts?

My guess is that JB will concentrate on expanding service on existing routes for a while as thye've had quite a few new stations since their inception only (18 months?) ago.

With ATA already doing IND-LGA, I'd guess that it would be lower on the expansion plans. Chicago also has ample LCC service with MDW-LGA on ATA (with AA also flying that same route.) However, JFK-ORD may stir some things up. (It may also help convince some other airlines to offer the same route to help make it easier for us Chicagoans to connect to International flights at JFK without doing the LGA-JFK hop!) However, getting the gates at ORD continues to be an issue. I'd love to see JetBlue at Midway, though...

JFK-CVG is another intriguing route, with just about no LCC traffic. And seems to continue with Jetblue's attacking of Delta.

However, with the exception of ORD (if gates open up), I don't see anything else happening in the near future.

Interesting...I would think a JetBlue expansion to Chicago would definitely mean Midway and not ORD. Either way, they could make some major waves in a variety of markets.

And yes, ATA does have good coverage for LGA. This airline expanded again recently from Indy with even more flights to Florida and other routes.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Pietro:
Interesting...I would think a JetBlue expansion to Chicago would definitely mean Midway and not ORD. Either way, they could make some major waves in a variety of markets.</font>

From what I hear the A320 would have weight restrictions due to the short runways and tall obstacles around the airport.

I also heard that B6 was close to an agreement with ORD around Christmas but the only gates available were in the Int'l terminal. The problem is that gate costs are significantly higher (2-3X) than a domestic gate, thus B6 decided against it. They were close to landing some gates that UA was not using and owed back rent on but UA decided to pay the back rent at the last minute.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by audio-nut:
From what I hear the A320 would have weight restrictions due to the short runways and tall obstacles around the airport.
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Delta flies ATL-MDW in a 738, which is 1,500 lbs heavier than the 320.

JetBlue will not go to MDW... they will wait for an opportunity to get a gate or two at O'Hare. It's surprising to me that the international gates are more expensive than the domestic gates, since I don't think that all 20-odd international gates could possibly be used in the mornings. But finding a gate for the evening peak could be difficult.

Unfortunately, there really is not a good choice for a domestic gate, now that Spirit has moved to share L3/L5 with Delta. UA and AA will keep JetBlue out of the majority of the concourses and Continental isn't going to give up any gate space in Concourse E for somebody that competes with EWR business. That leaves only the Northwest gates.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Paulo:
Delta flies ATL-MDW in a 738, which is 1,500 lbs heavier than the 320.</font>

Weight is not the problem. Performance is.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by audio-nut:
Weight is not the problem. Performance is.

</font>

Huh?

Anybody understand why all of the majors, with drastically cut back schedules, are hoarding all of their pre-Sept 11 gates at ORD (among others)?

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Paulo:
Huh?

Anybody understand why all of the majors, with drastically cut back schedules, are hoarding all of their pre-Sept 11 gates at ORD (among others)?</font>

To keep the likes of Jet Blue out... This has been the norm at ORD for the last 20 years. In the past, various airlines had to sue their way in. AWA was one of them.

THEY ARE COMING TO IND!


This comes from this weeks Business Week

"Neeleman won't say where JetBlue will fly the new planes when the first of 100 arrive in 2005, but he hints that Charlotte, N.C.; Columbus, Ohio; and Indianapolis are possibilities, as are destinations in the Caribbean and Mexico. He might also up frequency of service to existing JetBlue cities such as Rochester, N.Y., and Burlington, Vt."

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by cmhua777:
THEY ARE COMING TO IND!


This comes from this weeks Business Week

"Neeleman won't say where JetBlue will fly the new planes when the first of 100 arrive in 2005, but he hints that Charlotte, N.C.; Columbus, Ohio; and Indianapolis are possibilities, as are destinations in the Caribbean and Mexico. He might also up frequency of service to existing JetBlue cities such as Rochester, N.Y., and Burlington, Vt."

</font>

If you notice Neeleman says that they are "considering" about 100 different cities. He uses a different five in each interview.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by audio-nut:
If you notice Neeleman says that they are "considering" about 100 different cities. He uses a different five in each interview.</font>

I have noticed that too. In a Salt Lake City newspaper, he said, "the work force in the Salt Lake area has been great and the time may soon come when some JetBlue crews will be based here. Anything we can move to Salt Lake, we'll move to Salt Lake."

Good God, what have I started here? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Seriously, it will be interesting to see where JetBlue adds new routes. As the discount-fare market expands, is there any big-market airport that wouldn't want them?