hi55us

Relocating some of their A320/E190 fleet for intra-euro flights would be a huge shocker, I mean they don't even have a midwest hub yet...

MSYtoJFKagain

This implication from his post is that they will have a European partner.

bennos

Some form of tie up with an airline like U2 (easyJet, which already has a partner program) would actually make a reasonable amount of sense, and LGW (or to a lesser degree STN or LTN) would seem like the right airport to fly into for it. I've been using LGW more frequently recently, and I'm starting to like it better than LHR for convenient access to the parts of London I frequent. (At least until Crossrail opens, if ever it does...)

B6 can handle its own feed on the US side, and B6-U2 (aside from being an amusing pair of airline codes) would also offer U2 good connectivity into the US.

That said, without a Premium Economy product B6 would have to offer really appealing Mint fares to get me to switch from VS. If the TCON market is any indication, we'll see really good fares early on, but over time they'll creep up back towards legacy territory.

(This is all conjecture of course, I have no insight into what might actually happen.)

MSYtoJFKagain

My guess was seeing Mint fares start at $700-800 as a promo and then settle at a $1000 each way for the cheapest bucket. Considering that the current fare is regularly $8,000RT even months out on other carriers.

Normal seats will hopefully be in the $200-300 per leg range but I would be fine with $300-400 considering the level of service.

I agree that the lack of a PE is a bit of a drawback.

I still think our discussion of possible A220 usage similar to the A319 BA runs out of LCY in a full J package on top of normal services would be enormously popular.

Dn10

Are we still thinking just London and perhaps Paris, or any other European cities as well?

MSYtoJFKagain

If the rumors above are true, I'd guess London and Paris to start getting feeders from whomever they partner with. Add in a Spanish route, Irish route, and possibly Italy. Considering that B6 is a leisure-centric airline, those would make the most sense imo.

This is the assumed range map from JFK.

MSYtoJFKagain

Also note that FLL to EZE would be within that range, opening up Brazil.

Dn10

Irish route would be interesting with the Aer Lingus partnership they have at the moment. Not sure they'd like the competition.

caliform

I wouldn't expect AMS, personally. The slots there are extremely hard to get. But I'd love to be surprised. KLM/AF and Jetblue are my main airlines.

MSYtoJFKagain

There isn't much competition on the DUB route from New York. 5 direct flights a day, 3 Aer Lingus, 1 DL, 1 UA. Even less on SNN, 1 EI, 1 UA.

dtremit

As Dn10 notes, Aer Lingus is a JetBlue partner; I can't speak for JFK, but in BOS there are a ton of passengers who connect B6 <-> EI. And JetBlue sells Aer Lingus flights on its website.

I seriously doubt JetBlue would choose to compete with a partner as one of their first TATL routes.

MSYtoJFKagain

Oh I know, just saying that EI isn't exactly the best product and B6 could easily displace them/

Vincent Zuo

Not exactly a partner, but rather... an acquisition

MSYtoJFKagain

Well, that narrows things down.

caliform

Whoa. Who would that be?