Are J/B thinking about Canada?

They mention Canada and other destinations outside the United States such as Burmuda and the Bahamas in several of their press releases. I think Mexico was also mention in a handful. Mostly in the press releases and news articles regarding the EMB 190s. This doesn't mean that they will fly to Canada, jetBlue list alot of potential routes out of LGB, BOS, and JFK and most of them still never happened before, its just a matter of time, I'm sure their considering canada cause if their not, theres really no point in mentioning it in some of their press releases.

http://www.westjet.com
I have a feeling THEY will try to cut across the border first... Plus David Neeleman was there after he sold Morris Air to Southwest and left... He had a non-compete clause in the US for a few years, so WestJet made sense.

David Neeleman has said in interviews that JetBlue already serves San Juan (even though it is not an intnl destination) and is ready for intnl destinations at the right time. He did say that IF they do , they would probably focus on this side of the Atlantic - probably Mexico or Canada.

They will probably fly to both Canada and Mexico. I don't think they will compete with westjet but possible work with it. If ownership rules in Canada and the US were relaxed I can even see a Westjet/JetBlue merger. For now, it may be some kind of informal synergistic routing or partnership.

This mgmt is different from LUV. They do not have too much dogma (single aircraft, point to point no hubs, no in flt amenities, assigned seating, etc. etc.). They will stick to good principles but think out of the box quite often.

WestJet is also a JetBlue livetv customer...

From a June 19th, National Post article:

JetBlue targets five Canadian cities
JetBlue Airways Corp., the successful U.S. low-cost carrier, has targeted five Canadian cities as possible destinations where it can expand in the next couple of years.

That's good news! I hope that they do make the decision to break into the Canadian market. I know several friends of mine who live in YYZ and who have flown jetBlue, they loved the service. I live in JFK now (from YYZ) and would choose definitely jetBlue to make the trip.

I think that the WestJet-jetBlue partnership is an excellent idea. Why not add in some other airlines (say easyJet or Ryanair) to make an international LCC alliance ^

JP

None of the LCCs on both sides of the Atlantic are contemplating acquiring aircraft capable of going accross the pond. Only a WS 73W (737-700 with winglets in Westjets world) can do the hop from Moncton, St John's, or Halifax. FYI, it is less time to get from YHZ (halifax) to LHR than from YHZ to YYC (Calgary).

A Westjet and Jetblue partnership has been discussed in Canada and there are constant rumors in Calgary about a tie up. The most likely possibility is Westjet to JFK from YUL, YOW, YYZ. This would allow for Westjet passsengers to connect to Jetblue's 55 daily flights to Florida. The biggest fly in WS-JB plans is a little airline called Jetsgo. Jetsgo flies 18 MD80 aircraft nonstop from eastern Canada to Florida. Jetsgo's costs are rumored to be lower that WS and therefore able to withstand a fare war.

Another codeshare discussion was Westjet flying into Long Beach, however JB does not have enough connection possibilities to warrant the codeshare (i.e. four hour connection window is needed to present enough decent possibilities). Calgary has US pre-clearance area so US customs in Long Beach is not a concern.

Speaking as a Calgary resident. WS or JB to JFK (even without the codeshare) would be fantastic.

Further FYI, WS is slated to have LiveTV up and running on a 73W any day now. The first aircraft has been undergoing 3 months of testing for both FAA and Transport Canada regulations. The testing has been very intense (because this is the first 737 with LiveTV) and the implementation is months behind schedule. There is even talk to removing LiveTV from the airplane if approval cannot be reached by July 1, when WS needs all aircraft inservice to handle the schedule.

Question for the True Blue types, How valuable is Direct TV product at influencing your purchasing decisions? How inconvenient (ie time and/or money) does a non Direct TV flight have to be before whiching to the competition?

For me, Direct TV does not influence me on purchasing my ticket, the departure and arrival times on jetBlue flights pretty much fit my needs, and I tend to be more than willing pay more on jetBlue because of the same day standby policy, low change fees, leg room and the high quality of service. In addition, I perfer jetBlue over other carrier becuase I know that I will get to where I want to go on time most of the time, and when a flight is late, jetBlue is so far the only carrier that I've flown where they dont play the game of updating the revised departure time every 15 minutes. Therefore, Direct TV have virtually no influence in my purchasing decisions, however, Direct TV is a nice feature and I do perfer Direct TV over the other IFE option and the improvements being made to it such as XM Radio and Pay Per View will only make this feature even better.

Would you give us more information as one must register to read the article. What are the 5 cities and will they be destinations from JFK? Any time frame?

Not true. ATA plans to start European operations in 2006.

http://news.airwise.com/stories/2004/02/1077658337.html

They've been talking about it for quite some time.

WestJet is moving forward with their US plans....

Later this fall, they will begin service to LA, SFO, PHX, MCO, and FLL....

http://www2.ccnmatthews.com/scripts/...54AM.xml&t=WJA

snip...Of the 38 cities JetBlue has eyed, five are Canadian -- Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Montreal and Halifax. The majority are in the United States, with one in Mexico and two in the Caribbean.