jetBlue and AA [interline]/DCA slots obtained
 

JetBlue and American to announce Codeshare

Now I haven't heard a peep out of the company about this one. Is it that we are looking to feed American at JFK from our major domestic operations there and their international operations to team up against Delta? I don't see what LH could say as, yes they are a large shareholder but we are still an independant company free to seek oppurtunities to make money.

I would say that it would make sense. B6's costs are less than those at AA and so more flying could be transferred by AA to B6 for connections while AA can concentrate on their strengths in Latin America, London, and transcon premium travel. LH is an investor in B6 and so whatever brings in more profits for B6 is good for LH. AS codeshares with carriers in competing alliances and has done quite well for themselves lately. It would help both carriers to get a leg up on DL in the battle over NYC. B6 would also gave slots at DCA which they have sought for a long time.

jetBlue and AA codeshare/DCA slots obtained
 

It is official:

AA and B6 will soon begin codesharing on non-competing flights out of JFK and BOS. AA gets 12 slots at JFK from B6 in exchange for 8 slots at DCA and an additional slot at HPN. Looks like a good deal for both airlines.


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JetBlue Agreement

American Airlines and JetBlue Airways today announced an agreement for commercial collaboration in New York and Boston that benefits customers of both airlines. The agreement will provide customers with interline service in non-overlapping markets, which will offer them more choices and convenient connections. The companies are also exploring other commercial cooperation.

The partnership will focus on routes into and out of JFK and Boston Logan International Airport that extend and complement each others' networks. For example, it would provide seamless service for customers who wish to fly nonstop from Nantucket to JFK on JetBlue and from there to London on American. Likewise, customers can board American from Paris to JFK and connect to a nonstop flight on JetBlue to Burlington, Vt. JetBlue customers will be able to effortlessly connect on flights to 12 of American's international destinations from JFK and Boston including Barcelona, Spain; Sao Paulo, Brazil; and Tokyo, Japan.

On domestic routes where the carriers don't currently compete, American customers can book convenient, nonstop JetBlue flights from JFK and Boston to 18 domestic markets, including Portland, Maine; Nantucket, Mass.; and Burlington, Vt.

Under terms of the agreement, American intends to transfer eight slot pairs at Ronald Reagan National Airport and one slot pair at White Plains, N.Y. to JetBlue, and JetBlue intends to transfer 12 slot pairs at JFK to American.

Customers of both airlines are expected to benefit from improved connections, while each airline will see additional customers fed into their networks. None of the routes on which the airlines will cooperate overlap current flights served by the other. The agreement will provide connections for more passengers at JFK and Boston to American's international destinations in Europe, Asia, and South America. It also will generate more traffic and support for American's planned joint business with oneworld partners British Airways and Iberia between North America and Europe, and with Japan Airlines between North America and Asia.

"This new agreement with JetBlue complements our domestic and international network and will bolster our partnerships with other oneworld members. It will provide important opportunities to grow international traffic flowing into and out of the United States for American," Arpey said. "That ultimately strengthens our operations, network, and customer feed at JFK and at Boston Logan. And, while we bolster American's own network, in turn we will help solidify oneworld as the premier global alliance with the finest airline brands and networks worldwide."

Certain portions of the cooperative agreement may be subject to regulatory review.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Americ....html?x=0&.v=1

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/JetBlu....html?x=0&.v=1

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Americ....html?x=0&.v=1

Definitely was not expecting this. I suppose it makes sense for AA--their international traffic at JFK is almost entirely O/D, and this gives them a stronger opportunity for connecting traffic domestically. And JB gets slots at DCA, which they've wanted for basically forever.

What type of regulatory review is required?

Last night I started gathering detaiked regarding a AA-B6s code-share (which is actually an interline) and JetBlue picking up slots at DCA Once I confirmed the information I started to put it out on Twitter around 11:00pm (@flyingwithfish).

As of this morning ... I have 31 e-mails on my Blackberry telling me I'm an idiot, this is never going to happen and/or that I've been taken for an early April Foos ride ... well it official, and confirmed, info I fed to NYC Aviation's site is correct.

If you've been sending me the e-mails, please stop.

So it's not a codeshare but an interline. Does this mean our agents will have the ability to rebook on AA in the event of foul weather? :D

So what's this mean since it's only an interline, and not a codeshare? You can simply book a B6 and an AA ticket on one record?

Yeah, that's pretty much it. I suspect that this is the initial "phase" of the partnership that they just slapped together to make an announcement.

If service to DCA does not start until late fall then there is still plenty of time to work out the logistics of a codeshare. Given the pending US/DL deal, B6/AA are obviously acting quickly to get something out there. By November, B6 should be fully into using SABRE and have a year of the new True Blue program behind them which enables them to work on developing more complicated relationships with other carriers both foreign and domestic.

For me, this will be exciting if...

1. I can earn AA miles on B6 flights to where AA does not fly to (thereby finally freeing myself from B6's TB program which I find not particularly useful, customer friendly and time consuming (to constantly chase down missing points)).

2. There is access to EML seats for AA elites (since B6 TB doesn't have elite status levels they may not wish to provide such).

3. There is priority access through security, such as at JFK T5.

For now, I'd settle for item 1.

So, now we have 5 slot pairs from DL and another 8 from AA. That gives a lot of flexability there for a decent scedule to 3 or 4 destinations.

Haha. You might see that come up tomorrow, but B6 would be foolish to do that.

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Official ceremony was today. Saw the pics on facebook.

Anyone want to speculate on the DCA destinations? Local minds want to know!

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Aa.com/nyc has further info from the aa perspective.

I recall an article that indicated Jetblue would like a DCA-BUF route. I'll assume BOS and JFK are on the table too

I think there is much more routes to be added from DCA-FLL/MCO/TPA.

Would IAD-JFK be part of this package?

No.

B6 and AA
 

Perhaps B6 should follow the Alaska Air example and allow one to earn miles on either B6 or AA or ... , if they are interlining with AA .

I had a lot of time to ruminate on my thoughts about this announcement as I was in transit all day today. That meant I actually had to think about things rather than just react. The more I think about it, the more I am convinced that B6 is going to play as the AS of the North-East. They can partner with whoever is convenient for additional routes and lift and they don't have to alter their FF program to "fit" the mold of a traditional one to join a global alliance. They form partnerships of convenience and benefit without too many obligations.

Plus, they now have a pretty decent sized portfolio to start operations at DCA.

http://boardingarea.com/blogs/thewan...ine-agreement/

Any guesses as to what B6 will do with the additional slot out of HPN? More Florida service, or service to a focus city to allow for west coast connections?

How about HPN-DCA?

Probably would be to Florida b/c that has been very profitable for B6. However, HPN-AUS/ORD would provide service to Texas/Chicago with easy connection to the West Coast.

Also, very possible but would only be 1X per day vs US's to DCA and UA's To IAD.

Yes, it would be workout very well.

This quote leads me to suspect that may not entirely be the case.

"When asked at a press conference about adding JetBlue to the Oneworld alliance, Mr. Arpey said, "We'll see where things lead."

American Airlines, JetBlue Establish Partnership

It seems odd that neither AA or B6 completely denied any future OW membership. Usually that would be the case, but Arpey's statement left things wide open.

I strongly disagree with the above bit I highlighted. Why say "yes" or "no" when the answer really is "maybe." Moreover, making the leap from interline service on a couple dozen routes to participation in a global alliance is such a drastic jump that I don't think it is quite appropriate yet. The partnership could grow, but B6 also has an almost identical relationship with LH; that doesn't mean they're about to join *A.

My WAG on this is that Jetblue will apply for a perimeter exemption at DCA. Many airlines have been successful in getting an excemption to fly to their west coast hubs (e.g. UA-DEN, DL-SLC, AS-LAX/SEA, US-PHX). There are actually unused slots at DCA for early morning and late evening flights (6am-7am, 8-9pm). While these times aren't great for short haul travel, they would fit in nicely for transcon. Imagine a DCA-LGB flight that left at 8pm, arrived LGB at 11pm with a redeye return coming into DCA before 7am. I could see B6 operating DCA-LGB 2x daily, one a day flight with connecting possibilities and other a night/red-eye combination primarily for O and D. Other than that I would expect service to either MCO or FLL, and probably BOS and JFK.

Those exemptions have greatly benefited from having Congress-critters in on the deal when making the request. I'm not sure that B6 has a ton of ability there given their base in NYC, but maybe.

That's exactly my point. If there was no possibility of B6 joining OW, I would have expected Arpey or the jetblue CEO to respond with a "no". By leaving it open like they did, puts a slight cloud of doubt on the idea of B6 becoming a codeshare-whore like AS.

As I posted in other threads, I suspect that this interline was annouced as a precursor the actual codeshares and other cooperation. I'm sure the details of this new alliance are still being worked out. With B6's move to Sabre, implementing the tech to join an alliance should be easier, and I'm sure AA would be the one sponsoring them.

The partnership with B6 is redundant for LH as they now have CO in *A to handle connections out of the NYC area. LH bought into B6 as a hedge due to UA's financial uncertainty. Now that UA is more stable, LH is looking for value from the investment.

I don't think so. I guess one of us is right and we'll find out eventually. ;)

LH has more lift into JFK than they do into EWR. And they also have lift into BOS and MCO where B6 picks up feed from them. It isn't all about NYC and even when it is, JFK is still king.

LH was always looking for value from the investments; having B6 join OW isn't nearly as valuable as having them be the AS of the east, IMO.

Well, I'm guessing you would have doubted the possibility of a partnership until AA/B6 announced it.

I'd have doubted the likelihood but not the possibility.

JetBlue can either become the AS of the east or go a more traditional route. AS seems to be doing quite well and is much more consistent than the others so I'm not so sure that's a bad play. I'm halfway through a blog post looking at all the numbers comparing the two carriers; they are surprisingly similar in many categories.

AS' code-whoring isn't the "end all be all" of airline strategies. AS is highly dependent on the codeshare revenue that comes from sleeping with everyone. If you removed that revenue, AS would probably have some issues with AA, UA, WN and DL crawling all over their routes. Their last defense would be all the monopoly routes ex-SEA, and intra-AK.

Notice how AS has pulled back over the past year?

The code-whoring strategy only works if other players in the market are willing to curb their desire to fly their own metal and pour traffic into your network. How long do you think AS would last if AA and DL both decided to make SEA a hub?

With Delta's obsession about market share in JFK, I'm confident that the B6 execs realized that going it alone will prove costly. Better to turn AA/OW into an ally than to compete against both AA and DL.

LH and Star alliance provide little assistance in what is essentially a domestic turf war.

The AA agreement is no different than the existing agreement with LH or EI. The "assistance" is only on international connections and only on routes where AA does not fly non-stop from JFK or BOS and B6 does.

Should AA or DL try to hub SEA AS would fight back and they'd probably do OK at it, though it would really depend on the number of planes that the other carrier deployed there. AS doesn't have a lot of spare capacity to fight back in the usual ways - frequencies and fares - but the other carriers also don't have a ton of cash lying around to make such an attack.

Also, given the slot controls - never mind gate capacity - at JFK versus SEA it isn't like DL can just decide to add 25 or even just 5 new flights there.

So other than the potential for B6 to join OW what's the difference right now? And how is that different from the potential for B6 to join *A?

DCA-LGB would be awesome...as would DCA-OAK.

however, I strongly doubt that'll happen.

if i can fly aa codeshares on jetblue metal, i'd go on a mileage run right now to keep my AA gold status!

I tolerate AA's domestic service enough so I can earn miles to redeem on their intl premium products.

For now they aren't going to be codeshares and the cooperation is only planned to be in conjunction with international long-hauls on AA right now. Other than that, have fun. ;)

I didnt see this anywhere else.

It looks like BA is interested in B6 as well.

Oneworld Eyeing JetBlue Links

"Arpey said some other alliance CEOs had expressed their desire to speak to JetBlue."

I'm not holding my breath for the OW invite based on that. ;)