JetBlue TrueBlue - JetBlue to serve PDX-JFK

More choices for us to the East Coast ^

http://biz.yahoo.com/pz/050223/73190.html

Its great! PDX is underserved to the east coast and JetBlue is going to take the challenge!

fabulous! any chance they'll add iad?

I'd take JetBlue to IAD since I have family in the Balto/Wash area. Currently, I believe CO is the only airline to serve the greater NYC area nonstop. Delta used to have nonstops to JFK, but no more.

I'd take JetBlue to IAD since I have family in the Balto/Wash area.

hp used to work nicely to was ($120 ow fares with no advance purchase req), but i've had trouble finding such fares of late

Why a red eye???? I would think an am PDX-JFK departure would have much more demand? Frustrating. I doubt I would ever take it.

Why a red-eye? Presumably the usual reason - more flying hours per aircraft. To operate an AM departure out of PDX requires the aircraft to overnight in PDX, meaning at least 5 hours down time. And with only CO for competition, B6 don't lose as many customers by doing this in PDX as they would in, say, LGB or BUR.

jetBlue usually starts in a new city with a red-eye. I was suprised to see otherwise in Burbank though.

Typical B6 intro to a city; they start many of their west coast city pairs the same way. That was the way they started in SEA, and now they're adding a daytime flight, perfect for the cruise trade. It takes a while to build a following in a new city, and this increases aircraft utilization.

Yellow77 is exactly right. PDX is a small market, and we have very limited transcon service. If people want the nonstop THAT bad, then they'll take the redeye (or use CO's service as it's the only other option). Redeyes are part of JetBlue's aircraft utilization plan. Think of it this way, they've got two options with PDX.

1. Evening departure from JFK; aircraft remains overnight (RON) in PDX; returns to JFK the next morning with an 8AM departure and arrives JFK in the afternoon.

Option 1 causes a significant downtime in PDX overnight where the plane isn't used. While it's in PDX, it can't be flying anything else, and the 8AM departure causes it to get into the east coast in the late afternoon. It also must occupy a gate at PDX overnight.

2. Evening departure from JFK; one-hour turn; red-eye flight back to JFK arriving early morning; aircraft is then used to fly east coast routes all day long before returning to PDX the next evening.

Option 2 uses the aircraft almost 24 hours a day, and allows for the most cycles (flights) possible in one day. They don't need to use the gate at PDX for more than an hour or two, which allows them to sub-lease it from another airline, or use a shared gate. Passengers get into JFK in time to connect to JetBlue's morning departures to wherever they are flying on the east coast now (sorry, only familiar with general ops not specifically JetBlue).

You can see that the cost benefits from Option 2 greatly outweigh any lost revenue from people who don't like redeyes. If you offer good service at a reasonable price, most people will be just as likely to take that nonstop as they would Continental's to EWR.

I too am excited about seeing Jet Blue come to PDX. The departure time out of PDX was a bit of a surprise, but reading this thread I see the reasoning for it. I too hope they'll add a second JFK flight leaving PDX in the AM! Delta once had a JFK non-stop AND a BOS non-stop, back in the days when PDX was the hub for their Asian flights. Those were the days for Delta in PDX. I took a flight in '03 to JFK, which was a thru flight via SLC. Was a 757, and when we stopped in SLC and passengers deplaned, there were no more than a half dozen who were continuing on to JFK. That spoke volumes and now Delta has only connecting flights from PDX.

I wish Jet Blue success in bringing service to PDX. From today's Oregonian, PDX now "rents" gate space by the hour! Here's a link to the article that appeared today: http://www.oregonlive.com/business/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/business/1109249916123290.xml

PDX has plenty of gate space and ticket counter space - just waiting for new airlines to fly in and set up shop. It will take time - the Jet Blue deal, according to news in Portland, took over two years.

Good Luck Jet Blue and welcome to Portland and Oregon! We wish you great success!

Is PDX a hub for Northwest? It seems like there has been a public outcry for lower fares. From this board and others, it seems like they will do pretty well in the market.

Is PDX a hub for Northwest? It seems like there has been a public outcry for lower fares. From this board and others, it seems like they will do pretty well in the market.

no, but i think they call it a focus city. aside from dtw and msp, they only fly to nrt; the port had to offer them a pretty sweet deal to take up the japan service (free rent, marketing, landing fees, etc), even better perks than they offered lh, i'm told.

no, but i think they call it a focus city. aside from dtw and msp, they only fly to nrt; the port had to offer them a pretty sweet deal to take up the japan service (free rent, marketing, landing fees, etc), even better perks than they offered lh, i'm told.

Not that this is related to JetBlue, but just for completeness, NW also flies to HNL from PDX once daily.

Not that this is related to JetBlue, but just for completeness, NW also flies to HNL from PDX once daily.

oh, i forgot about that. fwiw, i've heard rumors that that service isn't doing very well.

oh, i forgot about that. fwiw, i've heard rumors that that service isn't doing very well.

Neither is PDX-NRT.

I hear the same. PDX used to be a "focus city" for Delta and DL tried its best to make PDX-NRT work, with more feeder flights to help than NW has for sure, and DL couldn't succeed. DL pulled out of PDX a few years ago (e.g. all that's left are flights to hubs).

In the end Portland just doesn't generate enough O/D traffic to sustain all the transcons, Asia or Europe service the enthusiasts say they want. (The Lufthansa PDX-FRA service is totally subsidized by guaranteed floor payments from Oregon business interests.) As for PDX getting a second daytime B6 flight to JFK, SEA's had the B6 redeye for three or four years, been sending out excellent loads all that time, and we're only NOW getting a daytime flight... settle back and wait.

I hear the same. PDX used to be a "focus city" for Delta and DL tried its best to make PDX-NRT work, with more feeder flights to help than NW has for sure, and DL couldn't succeed. DL pulled out of PDX a few years ago (e.g. all that's left are flights to hubs).

In the end Portland just doesn't generate enough O/D traffic to sustain all the transcons, Asia or Europe service the enthusiasts say they want. (The Lufthansa PDX-FRA service is totally subsidized by guaranteed floor payments from Oregon business interests.) As for PDX getting a second daytime B6 flight to JFK, SEA's had the B6 redeye for three or four years, been sending out excellent loads all that time, and we're only NOW getting a daytime flight... settle back and wait.

My gut tells met that with all the new gates at Logan, you will probably get a Logan flight.

That would be excellent news indeed.