Non-peak flights have been at $29 for JFK to both of these cities and vice versa for at least 6 weeks now. Are they even breaking even on these flights? What are the load factors like? As a native of Pittsburgh should I view these offerings as a great deal or should I be worry that it is an act of desperation on JetBlue's part? Not sure about Richmond but I know that when service was launched to/from PIT 8 months ago, fares were in the $64-$69 range for PIT-JFK routes. I know summer travel is a busier time for these two northern cities, but I was always under the impression that airfares were lowest at launch to draw attention and new customers. But with all that said, who's to complain about flying round trip for less than a benjamin, even with taxes+fees!

The last time I saw a $29 fare, a few months later, it was discontinued. (BOS<->ROC, Airtran late last year)

AirTran regularly has $29 fares between MDW and MSP

I would venture to say the $29 routes are not profitable. However, that in itself may not be a true reflection of the value of the route. First, some routes are always going to be more profitable than others. Its just the way things go. Next, if travellers on this route are typically part of a connection to elsewhere in the network, there is more revenue coming from PIT pax, just not a lot of PIT-JFK traffic. Finally, until the plane is actually needed for a more profitable route, and as long as its not losing money or drastically impacting overall company profitability, its probably around to stay.

From what I've observed flying this route occasionally, RIC-JFK loads are always packed on weekends (i.e. Friday nights, Sunday nights, holidays) but pretty light midweek. Richmond has a large number of New York-area transplants, myself included, who now fly rather than drive 6 hours to visit family/friends thanks to B6's fares. The vast majority of business travelers in Richmond still use US or DL to LGA, which generally match B6's fares. I don't think JetBlue is in danger of pulling out of RIC any time soon, but I hope RIC travelers heed the "use it or lose it" warning of the local airport commission. I have loads of miles on US, and LGA is more convenient than JFK, but I do fly B6 on occasion to help keep lower fares in the market (plus, the E190 is far more comfortable than the ERJ, and I could care less about 500 FF miles each way from US).

Without having looked, I would believe that the (few) fares that are available at this price are on Tues and Wed. Both of these routes are very lean midweek, so they are probably trying to entice anyone to travel on these days. $30 of revenue is better than 0. Also, there is a very limited amount of seats that are sold at this price. Another example of this is Spirit, as you will sometimes see fares at $8 or less. However, it looks both of these flights are getting better loads. RIC finished out the year (2006) with a 68% load factor, for 8 months of service. Obviously, yields are more important than LF's, but I would think that this is some type of indicator. PIT, without any inside info, seems to be getting better. Their fares are much higher than they used to be, which is a good sign (for the airline).

P.S. It looks the HOU flights will be much more successful this year than last year. They are converting all three flights from 320's to 190's this week, which is perfect for the market. Someone said a while back that they were flying at 50% on the Airbus, which is 85% on the 190. I am also seeing sold out flights on Thurs, Fri, and Sun, which I have never seen before on this route. The fares were always at base fare ($129), but, other than Tues and Wed, the fares are averaging around $249. This is the perfect use of the Embraer, and is one of many routes that justifies it's purchase.

http://www.timesonline.com/site/news...d=478569&rfi=6

The Pittsburgh market has performed below JetBlue Airways' expectations since the low-fare carrier launched service in the region last June.
"We still believe strongly in the Pittsburgh, but we're looking for more support from the community ... we're looking for it to show signs of life," said Chris Nasipak, a JetBlue revenue manager, at a Pittsburgh Airport Area Chamber of Commerce breakfast Friday morning.

A bit more is in the above link.

I've also noticed that CMH fares have been $39 for a while which is also very low. Maybe they're not performing that well in Columbus either.

PIT has been a poor preformer. CMH on the other hand is really starting to takeoff. I'm betting this is just some sort of fare sale.

Part of the $29 fares in RIC is that they are trying to recover from cancelling 6 days of flights at RIC, when US (8 flights to LGA) and DL (4 flights to LGA & 4 flights to JFK) operated during these days. The business traffic went to US and DL, B6 should have operated at least two flights to RIC a day instead of 0. I support B6 and hope things get better at RIC. I do know that their Sun,M,F,Sat flights are running full, its the midweek hurting them.

RICFlyer brought up an excellent point that I forgot about. The cancellation of all 190 flights during the storms. The smaller cities (RIC, PIT, CMH, CLT, RDU) where again with out any jetblue service. The customers had no choice, since we gave them none, to go back to the other carriers. We're simply running the fare sales to try and get our customers back. Some may come back, some may not want to take the risk. It's their choice because when they pay for a ticket they expect to actually go somewhere.

timsMom flies JetBlue r/t PIT-BOS every month. And every time she books one of those $78 r/t, it seems she ends up being delayed for an hour or more and gets a $50 future flight credit. This is profitable?

For her, the only problem with flying JetBlue is that there's only one mid-day flight available. Maybe there are more flights through JFK but with the confiscatory segment taxes and PFC, who doesn't want to fly direct? Otherwise, she loves JetBlue, especially when the alternative is US.

Here's an idea: maybe travelers are more averse to flying to JFK on short-haul flights vs. long-haul (namely transcontinental) flights? While DL does offer PIT-JFK service, the other options (AA, US, CO) are NOT to JFK, but rather EWR and LGA.