JetBlue TrueBlue - jetBlue to launch SFO-FLL November 17

http://investor.jetblue.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=131045&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1319681&highlight=

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 11 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- JetBlue Airways (Nasdaq: JBLU) invites San Franciscans to trade the bay for the beach this fall as the airline begins the city's first nonstop service to sunny Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Beginning November 17, 2009, customer-focused JetBlue will offer daily service between San Francisco International Airport and its South Florida focus city at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. JetBlue has been offering West Coast travelers nonstop service between L.A./Long Beach and Fort Lauderdale since 2003. From Fort Lauderdale, easy connections to Caribbean destinations including Nassau, Bahamas and San Juan, Puerto Rico are a breeze.

JetBlue's new SFO-Fort Lauderdale flights will offer travelers unrivaled amenities onboard, including "people friendly" legroom -- the most in coach of any U.S. airline(a) -- the most free live entertainment of any U.S. airline(b), and unlimited free snacks and drinks -- not to mention JetBlue's sincere, personal and award-winning customer service.


San Francisco (SFO) to Fort Lauderdale (FLL) to
Fort Lauderdale (FLL) San Francisco (SFO)
---------------------- ------------------------
Depart - Arrive Depart - Arrive
--------------- ---------------
11:30 p.m. - 7:50 a.m. (next day) 7:15 p.m. - 10:35 p.m.
-------------------------------- ----------------------
-- Service begins November 17, 2009 --
--------------------------------------

Of note, VX is starting 2x daily service the following day. I find it very hard to believe that there is demand for 450 more seats (http://www.wanderingaramean.com/2009/08/ft-lauderdale-feels-airline-love.html)in the SFO-FLL market daily. I guess we'll find out soon enough.

I hope JetBlue can make a go of this. Nonstop service from the SF Bay Area to South Florida seems to come and go with distressing frequency. Maybe this is one of those markets that looks attractive until you jump into it: the Heisenberg principle of airline markets.

Well, well, well! That was very quick to gets new routes for SFO-FLL. Wow! It was so impressive for B6 will inaugurate FLL-SFO is first-ever nonstop. I can't wait to be on inaugurate flight out of SFO-FLL anytime soon.

It is interesting because

1) VX also launches this route 2 daily from Nov 18th. (as OP mentioned)
2) B6 will stop its onestop SFO-AUS-FLL from mid-Sep and bring back with nonstop. SFO-AUS and AUS-FLL are still there but no more connectable from mid-Sep.

Not for nothing, this not too much more than a reactivation of the defunct OAK-FLL that died out a couple years ago. Only this time, the route is O&Ding out the opposing side of the Bay Area. It was dropped b/c of more profitable oppurtunities.

It is interesting because

1) VX also launches this route 2 daily from Nov 18th. (as OP mentioned)
2) B6 will stop its onestop SFO-AUS-FLL from mid-Sep and bring back with nonstop. SFO-AUS and AUS-FLL are still there but no more connectable from mid-Sep.

I know aircraft sceduling and most profitable movements are a tough jig-saw puzzle to solve for airlines. However, getting rid of the SFO-AUS-FLL connection as an alternate can be a dangerous thing in the case of irrops. Not to mention you give people two different timing options as oppose to one.

Here we go! Head to head with Virgin America, kudos to Jetblue for protecting the FLL turf so to speak, let's see how this plays out now!

[QUOTE=Seat13c;12209558]Not for nothing, this not too much more than a reactivation of the defunct OAK-FLL that died out a couple years ago. /QUOTE]

The OAK flight was eliminated when fuel spiked last summer, it must not have gotten the loads and fares necessary to be profitable then.

One difference is that now B6 has begun to serve the Carribbean from FLL on routes it didn't operate when the OAK flight was cancelled. (SJU,SDQ, NAS) This will give SFO travelers more opportunities to connect to those destinations. These are options that Virgin America cannot offer at this time.

Since B6 is running an evening flight out of FLL and having it turn around and be back inthe AM, perhaps this was an aircraft that was scheduled to overnight at FLL anyway?

Intro fares were announced - $89 each way. A $200 transcon isn't bad at all, though that it also typical of the low fare in that market. Glad to see that they aren't cutting fares too much to make a go of the launch.

And, yes, B6 has the Caribbean routes, but I think that the demand for those connections from the west coast will be relatively low. It seems that west coast folks will vacation in Hawaii or coastal Mexico more often because of the travel time involved. Even with the non-stop to FLL the travel time to the Caribbean is pretty long.