LAX service suspended?
May 8, 2008, 1:00 pm
#46
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for those of you who care about direct operating costs, these hourly are for the 12 month period ending 9/2007.
JetBlue Crew cost: $437 Fuel:$1,544 Aircraftcost: $369 Insurance $6 Taxes: $68 Direct Maintenance: $231 Maintenance Burden: $116 Other: $12 Total Hourly Cost: $2,783
Fuel burn rate, in gallons per hour: 774 gph.
JetBlue Crew cost: $437 Fuel:$1,544 Aircraftcost: $369 Insurance $6 Taxes: $68 Direct Maintenance: $231 Maintenance Burden: $116 Other: $12 Total Hourly Cost: $2,783
Fuel burn rate, in gallons per hour: 774 gph.
Using $3.50/gal for today's fuel price (ignoring hedging gains and daily fluctuations in fuel price) gives us today's fuel price of $2,709/hr, or an hourly increase of $1,165.
Assuming 5.5 hours of flight time westbound and 5.0 hours eastbound plus 0.5 hours for possible circling delays over JFK plus the inevitable 0.5 to 1.0 hours of ground time at JFK waiting to take off gives us a ballpark of 11.0 hours for the typical round trip. $2,709 x 11.0 = $29,799 for the round trip, or $14,890 each way.
Note just how close that estimate is to jetBlue's explanation from Wednesday (I linked to it earlier) that it now costs $15,000 each way to gas up the A320s.
If the plane is booked to 100% revenue capacity, that's $100 just for fuel for every passenger. At 80%, it's $125 each.
Low fares and $3.50/gal jetA just don't mix.
May 16, 2008, 9:58 am
#47
Join Date: May 2008
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Burbank Afternoon flights
Was Jetblue's decision to get rid of the 3:40pm and 1:35pm flights out of Burbank to JFK, due to making times available for the new IAD flight or because the afternoon heat consistantly caused them to have to stopover in SLC or LAS to refuel?
May 16, 2008, 1:45 pm
#49
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I don't for sure why, but I doubt it would be because of aircraft shortage. Also, if it was shortage of gate space, only one flight, not two, would be nixed. With the high price of fuel, there is lesser of a demand for aircrafts, especially the larger ones like the A320.
May 16, 2008, 4:02 pm
#50
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I'll go out on a limb and say that B6 probably cut those flts b/c they are less profitable than using the aircraft for other purposes.
May 16, 2008, 8:14 pm
#52
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It was 92 at BUR on Thur, 95 today (at 7pm it's still 92) and the forecast calls for 97 on Saturday. Combined with winds from the NE, I imagine some eastbound stops have been necessary.
May 16, 2008, 8:30 pm
#53
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So I was wondering if their thinking was to only fly in the morning and the late red eye, in an effort to avoid the afternoon heat and the problems it causes at BUR with the short runnway. Because the 1:30 and 3:40 flights were usually packed just like all the flights from BUR-JFK. Rarely are these flights not close to 100% load.
May 16, 2008, 8:50 pm
#54
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As to the original question, I'm guessing that the flights were canceled because JetBlue found a better use for the planes. While they are taking on many new E190s this year I believe that the fleet plan only calls for ~5 new A320s. So the planes may be needed elsewhere to upgrade an existing route for the summer season to Florida or some other reason.
May 17, 2008, 10:15 am
#55
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Neither B6 208 nor 212 (the two afternoon flights from LGB to JFK) have had fuel stops this month, according to FlightAware.
As to the original question, I'm guessing that the flights were canceled because JetBlue found a better use for the planes. While they are taking on many new E190s this year I believe that the fleet plan only calls for ~5 new A320s. So the planes may be needed elsewhere to upgrade an existing route for the summer season to Florida or some other reason.
As to the original question, I'm guessing that the flights were canceled because JetBlue found a better use for the planes. While they are taking on many new E190s this year I believe that the fleet plan only calls for ~5 new A320s. So the planes may be needed elsewhere to upgrade an existing route for the summer season to Florida or some other reason.
They didn't move the planes elsewere, they just shifted those two flights to the morning.
May 17, 2008, 12:06 pm
#56
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There were 3 diversions of B6 354 in April, one each to ACY, LAS and SLC. On similar days B6 352 diverted as well. I guess that probably had something to do with the change in plans.
May 23, 2008, 9:38 am
#57
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And as an update to my earlier message, I checked my rebooked flight and noticed that there was no new seat assignment. I called the Customer Service # and they were kind enough to grant me an EML seat for free (after I asked if this was possible). This was really nice of the agent considering my flight was a TrueBlue Reward flight to begin with.
Considering that I bought the ticket as a TrueBlue reward flight, this was very impressive and a nice move by Jetblue.