IAD-JFK Route?

I go to LAX and I would like to see that. Burbank is much more convenient for probably 90% of the L.A. area however for that one tiny area (the beach communities immediately south of and immediately north of LAX) around LAX naturally LAX is more convenient.

I hope jetBlue does well in San Francisco. I think Chicago will continue to be slow to come up to where Mr. Neeleman (sp?) may want it but I hope jetBlue won't retreat.

You obviously understand the dynamics of the industry quite well, is it mostly from your current position and your interest or do you have a business / finance background? Just curious.

Most of my knowledge is pretty much self taught. Dietcoke can prolly back me up on this, but flying the line daily gives you a first hand look at how cities operate and what it takes for us to go into and stay in a city. We see many different things on a daily basis and can almost predict where the company will expand to, based on our preformance to cities of similiar size and our past expansion. I also do have a background inf business/finance so I do know a little about the aspects of the business.

I do believe LAX was suppose to be announced already, rumors from with in the company. Then things went down hill and other oppurtunities presented themselves. LAX up'd their landing fees and SFO lowered them for us. SFO has plenty of room for expansion and it was a preemptive attack on Virgin America.

The pull out in ATL wasn't done for the reasons many people suspect. Not connecting ATL to JFK was a big mistake and helped contribute but it wasn't the main reason. Loads and profits out of ATL where doing very well, well enough to warrant us to stay. However at the time we entered ATL we where young and didn't have the necessary customer base or destinations to sustain ATL and the fight Delta was putting up. Delta wasn't the only one putting up a fight. The gound operations where also helping matters. Almost every time we landed and refuled, the fueler would arrive 10 to 15 minutes late and we would be forced to take a delay. I know nothing about how ATL operates and this may be very common, I don't know but this is what I was told by the former ATL station manager. Also operations would take forever loading and unloading our aircraft. I think with Delta's recent clogging of JFK with their Dash 8's will really make the company rethink ATL, especially now that we have the 190!

I'd almost place a bet that SFO sets the tone for any other major expansion in the future. This year we will continue to connect the dots to help alleviate some of the pressure on JFK until the new terminal opens up in mid 2008. This will also help reroute customers, aircraft, and crews should JFK run into any more major weather events. We really can't go into major details as it would violate terms of our employment but I think there are going to be some big announcements in 2008.

Yes, LAX is quite something. I don't know how closely you follow the industry outside jetBlue, it may be difficult when you're in the air and not behind a monitors (not something you should want to change if you're enjoying flying, trust me) but LAX is causing all the airlines a major headache. A Southwest Airlines spokesperson was quoted as saying that if all their airports were like LAX they would have gone into the steamship business, it was funny.

Between United's Dulles hub, and Southwest's presence at BWI, Southwest growing at Dulles, and the incredible difficulty of getting to Dulles from downtown D.C., I don't see Dulles becoming a large station for jetBlue. I certainly don't see alot of IAD-RDU/BNA/CLT but I could be wrong.

I would like to see a couple more cities out of JFK this year before jetBlue focuses entirely on connecting the dots (which to me translates to New York gets shafted in favor of Boston and Dulles)

I have a feeling Nantucket is going to be HUGE this summer. I would NOT be surprised if emergency flights aren't added on short notice this summer. Alot of people own homes up there and will pay any amount of money for an alternative to that drive, I also think it will influence wealthy vacationers considering places to go for a week in July. Drive to the cape or fly a real plane to Nantucket and not have to deal with the Lexus, I'll be curious to see...

With gas prices being predicted to top near $4 a gallon this summer, currently $3.02 in BUF, many people will take to the air to head to their vacations or summer homes. I would expect all airlines to face record numbers this summer.

Yes, that is a given.

Is it true that alot of jetBlue's flight crews are from all over upstate New York? Did jetBlue actively recruit in Upstate (particularly Upstate Western) New York?

I don't honestly know how ORD is performing but I suspect that even if it didn't make a profit for some time you won't see JB give up those slots as they are vital for further growth in Chicago. I truely believe that United will free up more slots when they are bought out or merged with another legacy. Don't kid yourself GlennTilton is not in for the long run he wents to profit personally from a sale or merger.

Most people think that Delta ran JetBlue out of ATL, well this is not true. JetBlue were run out of ATL by Airtran. At the time when we entered ATL JB management rightfully gauged Delta's reaction but they completely underestimated Airtran who cleverly wet leased Ryan international A320's to compete on our west coast routes. We probably could have put up a better fight but ATL was a major Hub to both Delta and Airtran and it made sense to shift the flying to other more profitable cities. I hope that this is the first and last time that another airline effectively runs us out of any city. I bet that we will return to ATL with at least JFK & BOS service in time. I bet that most of '08's growth will be on the west coast and involve the E190. JFK unfortunately is at saturation point mainly because of Delta's continued use of regional jets and Dash 8's. Whilst I believe that the latter have partially contributed to traffic delays I think that Delta is ultimately shooting itself in the foot as they are beginning to clog up their own system moreso than JetBlue's. As I am based in JFK I am witnessing more and more chaos weekly on the Delta ramp because there is very little room and aircraft are sitting longer waiting for gates to open up. I stopped commuting on Comair partly because of the extensive ramp delays and partly because of inept customer service agents who just didn't appear to give a damn. Please, these are my personal opinions so before I get Lynched I have also witnessed some very very poor costumer service on JetBlue as well. Additionally prior to the opening of our temporary terminal, or as we effectionately call it the Fema huts, Jetblue was also experiencing unacceptable ground delays for inbound traffic. I don't see these ground delays anymore, just perhaps during IROPS.

dietcoke, I like your assessment on ATL. It would be nice to see it come back on line with JFK and BOS service. After all, look at SDQ which just recently came back this year. Although I heard that had something to do with the A320 unable to handle the cargo/baggage weight. Cities do come back...in most cases, with MUCH better planning. Didn't something similar happen at WN with DEN I believe?

One question - you mention FL leased A320's to compete on west coast runs? I thought it was the 737.

Airtran contracted Ryan international ( a totally seperate company from Ireland's Ryanair ) to fly A320's. At that time Airtran were exclusively flying the 717 which simply didn't have the range for the west coast. The 737's came after this and enabled Airtrans expansion westward.

Now I see, thank you for the clarification.

I would LOVE to see ATL come back and with service from BOS/JFK. It is unbelievably annoying to have to deal w/ DL's near-monopoly on ATL from NYC (save for AirTran, which I just won't fly)... Not to mention the fact that using SkyMiles on DL to get to ATL for a weekender trip NEVER allows for a basic 25k mile reservation...