sbm12

New aircraft order announced today for 30 A321s, split 15/15 on ceo/neo, with deliveries starting in 2017.



For 2017 JetBlue will now take 14 Mint A321s. In 2018 there are 11 A321s on the books and the CFO said in today's earnings call that it is likely most of the 2018/2019 A321s will be Mint, though not confirmed yet. This is on top of all the other markets already announced.


Link goes to my coverage of the story.

sfozrhfco

and add to that 9 new flights from Long Beach and the possibility of starting service to Europe or deep Latin America as early as 2019 with the A321LRs--maybe even Mint flights to Hawaii from the West Coast...lots of positive changes coming in the next few years.

hiima

If LGB prices fall in line with LAX prices, I'll be so happy. I it's very possible too, since WN joined the game.

Dieuwer

Mint BOS-AMS please!

ralphs

Great reporting Seth!

Sadly, looks like no Mint in Long Beach. I wonder who will be the first airline to introduce a premium transcon product to LB/OC.

Crankyflier is reporting that LGB is actually less profitable for Jetblue. His claim: "Long Beach consistently has some of the lowest fares in the nation. Travelers love that, but airlines don’t."

From personal experience, (I live in LGB) I find that transcon fares are often cheaper on B6, but often not on AA.

http://crankyflier.com/2016/07/26/lo...s-jetblue-war/

sbm12

Hawaii was specifically NOT mentioned in the press release nor the earnings call. That will depend on the neo deliveries (starting 2018) if the A321s are going to be involved. Also, I'm skeptical of that market vis a vis yields and what the company can get from it.

The LR options will be decided no later than EoY 2017 for possible 2019 deliveries (though later if the 2019 frames are non-LR and 2020-2022 frames are). And they're talking MUCH more about Europe now than about South America. Better economic situation right now, more ability to come in cheap and disrupt the market and more potential routes to serve. Also, generally shorter flights. Business markets ex-BOS was a segment specifically mentioned on the call, but in the context of "things we'll look at when considering whether to take the planes as LRs" rather than "markets we expect to expand in to.

But, right now, it is all about transcon Mint expansion.

Dieuwer

Link: http://otp.investis.com/clients/us/j...1&newsid=37146

N830MH

Please be BOS-BSL. Come on JetBlue. Says something!

ralphs

Seth, any Jetblue chat about Asia, to go along with the noises about Europe?

hiima

Doubt it, too far.

sfozrhfco

No specific destinations were mentioned for the LR and who knows what the economic situation will look like in 2019. They talked much more in the past about deep Latin America. They may again if things improve. Who knows what the competitive landscape will look like to Europe in 2019 and beyond. With VX out of the picture, HI also becomes more viable. They haven't decided anything yet but they have quite a few options to choose from and time will tell how things play out.

RandomBaritone

I agree that B6's TATL expansion should be out of BOS rather than -- or at least alongside -- JFK. JFK is overloaded with TATL flights, while BOS still has to make do with whatever scraps foreign carriers see fit to provide us.

I'd hope for BOS-BER or BOS-CPH out of the gate.

Dieuwer

BOS-CPH now available with SAS.
BOS-DUS now available with AirBerlin.

sbm12

Europe was talked about several times. No specific cities mentioned (and no surprise at that) but the region was talked about a lot in terms of how the decision to go LR or not would be made. I STRONGLY suspect that the first international LR routes will be to Europe should the LR option be taken.

RandomBaritone

Yes, I'm aware of both of those. (Though not sure I see the relevance of the latter, since DUS is not all that close to Berlin!) I'd prefer B6, since I'm thinking of moving all my domestic travel there.