Destination Rumors
 

Again, these are RUMORS...anything is possible and nothing is official until (if and when) the actual announcement.

Also, please post any rumors you may have heard.

The source for these is from a crewmember I was speaking to.

1) New Caribbean Destinations possible: Aruba, St. Thomas, St. Croix

2) Connecting AUS to MCO

3) MCO a base by years end and a gateway to the Caribbean

4) This is something more well known: connecting AUS to San Jose, CA

5) AUS to BUR?

5) American Airlines is pulling out of Chicago Midway (hint, hint?)

Again, anything is possible as we have seen from the past. I, personally, would expect more east coast markets to be connected. Also, does anyone know whats going on with Cancun? I know jetBlue applied back in Nov./Dec. to start nonstop JFK-Cancun service...did they not get it YET because of the hurricanes or possibly Spirit?

I haven't heard any rumors, but JetBlue seems to be doing well in AUS. I don't know what kind of yields they're getting, but they are managing to fill the majority of their seats.

You can go to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics and look at the on time summary statistics for B6 in AUS to determine how many flights B6 operated in and out of AUS for the month.

Choose "origin Airport" and when that screen comes up, enter AUS for the airport and JetBlue for the airline in the drop-down tables. Then enter your date range. (ex: January 19 through January 31, 2006 - the number of days jetBlue operated out of AUS in January.). The table that comes up will sub total B6 flights at the bottom (51) That's how many departures B6 operated from AUS in January.

Then go back and do the same thing only this time choose "destination airport" and repeat the above process. B6 had 52 arrivals at AUS in January for a total of 103 total flights.

Multiply 103 total flights by 100 seats on each flight and you come up with 10,300 available B6 seats in and out of AUS during the month of January.

Then, you can go here to see how many B6 passengers traveled in and out of AUS by month. In January, B6 flew 6,406 passengers in and out of AUS.

6,405 passengers flown divided by 10,300 available seats = 62.18% of all available B6 AUS seats filled - not bad for the first 13 days of new service by a new carrier.

Statistics for February show much improvement.

There were 112 departures and 112 arrivals for a total of 224 B6 flights at AUS in February which translates into 22,400 available seats. JetBlue carried 17,1777 passengers at AUS in February.

17, 177 passengers divided by 22,400 available seats = 76.68% of all available B6 AUS seats filled in February.

Historically, January and February aren't busy months for AUS, but March is either the second or third busiest month and BTS released their March statistics earlier this week.

There were 124 departures and 124 arrivals for a total of 248 B6 flights at AUS in March which translates into 24,800 available seats. JetBlue carried 21,362 passengers at AUS in March.

21,362 passengers divided by 24,800 available seats = 86.13% of all available B6 AUS seats filled for March.

The WCIT (World Congress on Information Technology) just wrapped up a 5 day conerence here in Austin with over 2000 delegates from 80 countries attending and it's hoped that this will bring new technology business to the city.

One of the articles I read earlier about WCIT mentioned that Austin ranked third as a US Technology center behind the Silicon Valley and Boston, so I think a SJC-AUS might work. I think AA is the only carrier that offers nonstop service in this market and it's 3 or 4 daily.

I believe SEA is Austin's most popular destination without nonstop service by any carrier, so that might be another route they could consider. There were 338 travelers per day on this route according to Q3 2005 statistics - the latest available.

OAK is another airport that has no nonstop service from AUS. FLL also doesn't have nonstop service. Since B6 already offers one daily OAK-FLL flight, why not supplement that with a one-stop OAK-AUS-FLL trip? That would give AUS nonstop service to two new cities and would add another freqency in the OAK-FLL market although it wouldn't be a nonstop.

The only nonstop service to Florida AUS currently has is one daily WN nonstop to TPA and one to MCO. Everything else requires a connection through HOU, DFW, IAH, MEM, or ATL.

Re: AUS - BUR

The Texas Film Commission is headquartered in Austin and we also have The Austin Flim Commission. which reports

For the past.six years, MovieMaker magazine has named Austin among the top moviemaking cities in the country. In 2004,.the Capital City.topped the list of "Top 10 Cities for Moviemakers" and took the #2 spot this year and last, just behind New York City.

More than.350 major features and made-for-television movies have been filmed in Austin over the past 20 years, not including.hundreds of.commercials and independent projects.

I think an AUS - BUR would work.

Unfortunately, didn't JetBlue recently say it was going to concentrate more on short-hauol flights? If so, that may rule out the longer-haul routes from AUS like SJC and BUR.

It will be interesting to see what JetBlue does the rest of the year.

Mike

Bur-mco
 

While checking in for an Alaska Airlines flight on Wednesday, saw a sign at the JetBlue counter announcing new service from Burbank to Orlando.

Yes, nonstop BUR-MCO begins June 30, 2006. However, I am talking about Destination "Rumors"...not cities already offiially announced.

BUR-MCO will be an exciting nonstop route though.

Just curious...what makes this route so "exciting" ?

I didn't say SO exciting. I said it will be an exciting route. What will be exciting is that BUR is an upscale market and that area of California has close connections to Orlando, FL -- both Disney AND Universal have MAJOR theme parks in those city pairs. There is not much direct competition on this route either.

I think you just deceived the word "exciting" in the wrong way. Any new routets that have a good chance of being profitable is "exciting" and welcomed news for jetBlue.

Just to add more fuel to the fire:

According to airliners.net, the hot rumor is Savannah. Apparently, there is a ticket counter being repainted dark blue and the baggage offices are being cleaned up and prepared for a new entrant. The other rumor that I believe is most likely is Miami. However, that probably wouldn't be until October. Also, SAT was supposedly neck and neck with AUS when it was announced, so I wouldn't be surprised to see it added soon. Look for more connecting the dots and Boston expansion.

There have also been rumblings about Aruba and St. Thomas. I haven't heard of St. Croix before.

I like the idea of expanding Austin. I wonder if they would make it a mid-western hub for their 190's. It would allow a connection between the east and west, and it is a perfect market for the 100 seaters. However, I heard that they are changing the planes to 320's for the summer.

I also believe that MCO may encounter a large growth for Jetblue. They have acquired two more gates, which brings the total to 4. Plus, they have JetblueU and a maintenance hanger down there. Plus, they probably would have liked to expand out of FLL, but with the lack of gate space, and the Caribbean expansion by Spirit and US, MCO may be primed for expansion.

Finally, I don't believe that B6 would go to MDW. American only had 1 gate (I believe leased from CO), so that couldn't support the midwestern hub that Jetblue craves. They really want 4 gates at ORD, but that is unlikely, unless someone goes bellyup. I think that it is more likely that Jetblue could start a central hub at STL, ICT, OKC, or Milwaukee.

... of those, STL would be the most obvious -- lots of spare gates since AA scaled back, a pretty good O&D market, a brand new runway.

The biggest downside would be that they would inevitably be going head-to-head with WN, which they've studiously avoided up until now.

prhs1989, Everything you said is right on to what I've been hearing lately! I would be willing to bet on SAV to be announced yet. There are just so many cities with such few resources to expand to! I also think MSP would be a winner. I wonder when MCO will officially be designated as a "focus city."

In terms of connecting the dots, jumping away from totally new cities for a second, I think that BOS-JAX will be connected.

I heard rumors about RNO being added, but I think they are trying to focus on the eas right now.

I agree that STL would be the most likely. With all of the open space, I bet STL would be willing to give a pretty nice incentive to a new carrier.

Competing with WN could be a problem, but the fact is that they will face off eventually. They have coincided for the last half decade by staying out of each other's way. However, Southwest is now expanding more in the East and in major markets, which is where Jetblue is going to expand. Jetblue can't live in permanent fear of Southwest.

I had heard the RNO rumor, but they may have cooled down. Right now, I would expect no expansion west of the Mississippi or Texas. I like the idea of MSP. Jetblue could make some noise in any Northwest market, but, right now, it may not be a good idea to get into a rock bottom fare war.

I was surprised that BOS wasn't announced with JAX. If I had to guess, I would say that BOS would receive service from:

1)MSY
2)JAX
3)RDU
4)SAN

[QUOTE=prhs1989]I agree that STL would be the most likely. With all of the open space, I bet STL would be willing to give a pretty nice incentive to a new carrier.

STL would welcome JetBlue with open arms! AA would not be able to put up much of a defense (they have bigger fish to fry) and WN's coach product is inferior. The connection of East and West coast operations alone and connection of mid-tier markets would be the best way to utilize every existing station to it's fullest potential. STL will soon have concourse B (10 gates) and D (15 gates) open as AA is consolidationg their B operations into C this fall.

This rumor can be crossed off as it has been confirmed by management. Inflight and Pilot Crews should start getting based in MCO by December '06 maybe even early into '07

When was MCO confirmed as a "base"?? I know BOS was just recently confirmed. MCO, in my opinion, really is a "focus" city and "base" already.

Yeah, I was surprised enough about B6 wasn't announced more nonstop from JAX-BOS pax need connecting to west coast flight. Those are 4 new nonstop didn't announced to RDU, MSY, SAN & PDX. They need to get beef up for more than 100 daily flights in BOS. You should try to get best idea for good populations in BOS. You should try next time that if I hear get me more news from Jetblue.

We are waiting for the additional gates as well as more crewmembers to be based there. By late summer and early fall the BOS base should be up and running at full capacity. If I remember correctly, when all is said and done, we should have some 15 gates at BOS.

SMF agents told me BOS-SMF was in the works. I wish SMF-IAD would make a comeback...

BOS-SMF would be cool, but I thought they were focusing on shorter-haul now and less transcon due to crazy fuel prices. If they do add BOS-SMF though, you can fly SMF-IAD and then connect to the E190 from BOS-IAD, which is only a 1-hour flight or so!

No they won't come back IAD-SMF. Become due to the loads is not good enough for SMF. That's why Jetblue has been discontinued IAD-SMF. It doesn't work well for last couple months ago.

I can see BOS-SMF starting, i'll have to keep my eye on the pairings and see if it happens, but like you stated, the loads on IAD-SMF where horrible so I too don't see it coming back either.

You right about that IAD-SMF has been horrible on the loads for while ago. That's why Jetblue has been discontinuation.

No reason RSW can't be a focus city like FLL is, many flights to Boston and JFK/EWR are packed. Some more direct flights out west and to the Caribbean from RSW would be great. An RSW-MKE flight would do well here as Midwest and AirTran are too expensive/inconvenient and USA3000 is too unknown compared to JetBlue....hint hint

Rumored flights to JFK-Cancun would be nice for those up in NYC.

RSW is a growing market - but how many focus cities can one airline have!?

JetBlue applied for JFK-Cancun service back in November and it was a public announcement. I think that Spirit Airlines and damage from the hurricanes have something to do with them not receiving permission to fly that route yet.

American and Delta also applied for the JFK-CUN rights... As far as I know, the DOT has not yet announced a winner.

No no response from the government about who won the rights to fly NYC-CUN. Hopefully they will announce the winner soon!

You mean Jetblue not response from the government about JFK-CUN while. What about does DOT will given award begin JFK-CUN anytime soon. We shall wait see what happened Jetblue is receiving approved from DOT.

Can we at least get nonstop service to Washington started with JetBlue? The 2 hour drive to Fort Lauderdale is a killer when you have a new, clean, and modern airport right here. Maybe JetBlue could do like American does with RSW-MIA and get a small plane flying to FLL from RSW to provide more flight options for Southwest Florida JetBlue travelers to DC/Dulles, NYC/LaGuardia, Long Beach, and Oakland? Of course some businessmen would use it like a shuttle simply because it would be easier and quicker than driving on Alligator Alley on most days. Couldn't an Embraer 190 on that route? ;)

The JFK-Cancun route would be more expensive most likely since we are closer in Florida to Cancun, but to those up north....it should save money.

I'm not sure what is taking so long with the announcement. The company seems pretty confident that we will win the rights. I'm under the impression that the government is waiting to see how well CUN rebounds after last years hurricane season. I would think they would want air service to start up quickly to help the economy, but I don't know how route authority works, I just serve our wonderful customers.

Next city should be announced tomorrow the 25th and from what I heard it will be STL with the 190s.

Are you possible sure about B6 will be announced to STL or possibly different city will begin from either JFK or BOS.

Jumped the gun with STL. But I do know that STL should be announced very soon. Didn't listen the the thoughts on AUA being announced.

I like STL for a lot of reasons. I am surprised that we haven't heard anything lately on the 190's. They are still receiving a lot of them, but PWM, CLT, PIT, JAX, RDU are all 320 cities. What are they doing with the 190's right now?

Do you know if they are thinking of making it a midwest focus city for the 190's. This would allow they to connect the east and west with the 190's.

We don't have enough 190s to go around right now. We are getting a very high utilization out of the aircraft that we have right now.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again..... Back when the 190's were announced, GSP was supposedly on a "short list" of possible new destinations. Then, about a year or so ago, there was a bit of buzz about B6 coming to GSP. But lately, the silence has been deafening.... :confused:

Seriously? Do you know how many you have right now? I would guess 12.

11 at March 31, and expecting about 5/qtr for the remainder of 2006, so probably 12 or 13 right now.

Besides JFK-BOS, they are in service to BDA, AUS, PIT, and soon CLT and RDU. Surprisingly, Portland, ME, was announced as a 320 route; must be a bigger market than I thought. No 190 destinations have been announced, to my knowledge, from LGB. Considering the slot limitations from that airport, could be that they plan to stay with the larger plane to keep pax numbers up on fewer flights.

WE JUST APPLIED FOR AN APPLICATION TO FLY TO ARUBA STARTING SEPT. 15TH!!!!
NOTHING YET ON THE MCO BASE, MOST LIKELY END OF YEAR!

And connecting the dots, what do you guys think about FLL-RDU/CLT with an E-190?

PS: First post in the JetBlue Forum :p

My family does a decent amount of flying between NYC (all three airports) and MSP, DFW, and PNS. Any thoughts on when B6 might show their face in these markets. Last I checked, no one went NYC to PNS (everything was through ALT, CLT, MEM, ORD, or IAH).