JetBlue asks for Colombia flights

[FA Mikey]

JetBlue Airways has filed for authority to fly between Fort Lauderdale and Bogota, Colombia - which, if granted, would make it the first low-cost U.S. carrier to fly that route.

Under a 2000 treaty, U.S. airlines are limited to 70 weekly flights to Colombia's main cities, which are currently allotted to American Airlines, Continental Airlines and Delta Air Lines.

However, in it's filing with the U.S. Department of Transportation, JetBlue cites a September 2007 agreement between the two countries that opens up to 21 additional weekly flights. JetBlue applied for 14 of them - seven from Fort Lauderdale beginning in October 2008 and seven from Orlando beginning in April 2008.

story here

Is this a smart move? Will this further add to there bottom line costs. Are all there planes over water? Will they need a sub fleet for these flights, if they were awarded? AA is also planning to add flights in 08 to Columbia, so there is going to be some competition on the new flights.

 

[whatkindoffreshhell]

(mikey, don't you know this board doesn't give a hoot about anything foreign???)

Smart move for B6. Their equipment can handle these shorter over-water flights and the S.American market is woefully underserved and overpriced.

This is a precedent here folks --- a LCC venturing to a foreign land (I don't consider Canada, Mexico or the Carib foreign lands in this particular situation).

There will be many interested airline people watching this move.

Bravo jetblue!

 

[FrugalFlyerv2.0]

(mikey, don't you know this board doesn't give a hoot about anything foreign???)

Smart move for B6. Their equipment can handle these shorter over-water flights and the S.American market is woefully underserved and overpriced.

This is a precedent here folks --- a LCC venturing to a foreign land (I don't consider Canada, Mexico or the Carib foreign lands in this particular situation).

There will be many interested airline people watching this move.

Bravo jetblue!

Any thoughts as to why Spirit has not tried S. America from FLL?

 

[mga707]

Any thoughts as to why Spirit has not tried S. America from FLL?

I thought they did, or do they go no farther south than Central America?

 

[MAH4546]

This is not a precedent. Spirit flies daily to Peru and is also applying to fly to Bogota. They have been waiting for Venezuelan approval to fly to Caracas for a while now. They will also be launching flights to Chiclayo and Baranquilla early next year. Not to mention they fly to four cities in Central America.

 

[B6Busdriver]

Is this a smart move? Will this further add to there bottom line costs. Are all there planes over water? Will they need a sub fleet for these flights, if they were awarded? AA is also planning to add flights in 08 to Columbia, so there is going to be some competition on the new flights.

No sub-fleet needed. All airplanes have the ability and certification for overwater. Not ETOPS but up to almost 500miles from a useable airport.

 

[Texas]

This is not a precedent. Spirit flies daily to Peru and is also applying to fly to Bogota. They have been waiting for Venezuelan approval to fly to Caracas for a while now. They will also be launching flights to Chiclayo and Baranquilla early next year. Not to mention they fly to four cities in Central America.

You are correct and "whatkindafresh" is clearly not familiar with the competitive landscape. Jet Blue is nowhere near the player Spirit is when it comes to the Caribbean and Latin America. See here:

http://www.spiritair.com/welcome.aspx?pg=routemap

 

[whatkindoffreshhell]

You are correct and "whatkindafresh" is clearly not familiar with the competitive landscape. Jet Blue is nowhere near the player Spirit is when it comes to the Caribbean and Latin America. See here:

http://www.spiritair.com/welcome.aspx?pg=routemap

Nice try skippy. Go back and re-read my original post. I stated "S.American" destinations.

Those vacation airports served by fringe carriers with little planes are trivial.

BenBaldanza flys once-a-year vacationing cruise folks to ports of call. Good for him.

Thanks for playing!

 

[Texas]

Nice try skippy. Go back and re-read my original post. I stated "S.American" destinations.

Those vacation airports served by fringe carriers with little planes are trivial.

BenBaldanza flys once-a-year vacationing cruise folks to ports of call. Good for him.

Thanks for playing!

So Peru is where? Europe? Venezuela is where? Asia? The point is comments were made that implied this is something no other LCC is doing which is not accurate.

Fringe carrier markets? Not in their primary focus which is Carib/Latin from South Florida. You obviously don't understand the dynamic that's been quietly going on over the past few years. Spirit is barely a leisure carrier - Spirit has become a major player in the Latin/Caribbean region serving the majority of markets reachable by narrowboday aircraft (Spirit has A319s with only 6 seats less than Jet Blue's A320 and A321s with 198 seats, 48 more than Jet Blue's A320s). Their business is people from the region back/forth, not leisure.

Spirit flies to places like Nicaragua, Honduras, Haiti, Peru, Kingston, Santo Domingo, etc. Complicated markets, but they have focused their growth almost exclusively on these market types because its their strength. In the case of Jet Blue they may be breaking new ground for themselves hitting a hard core VFR market with serious security & operational challenges and difficult marketing obstacles, but not for an LCC - Spirit does this for a living, even in South America. And Jet Blue can't compete with Spirit's costs in these markets, so trying to start flying out of FLL to the south makes you wonder what Jet Blue is thinking.

Take a stroll through terminal 4 in Fort Lauderdale and you will quickly realize whats going on. Sure, they may fly to the major leisure Caribbean spots mainly on weekends, but the bulk of the actual departures are concentrated in ethnic markets and its obvious when you see the people in the terminals. Additionally, they carry locals to places like Montego Bay - not vactioners, everyone on their flights are Jamaican. This may sound like a nuance, but the point is they target ethnic markets (as in customer base, not routes) from South Florida, regardless of whether the economy there is based on tourism, petroleum or growing coffee like in Colombia.

But back to your S. America only point, yes, they already fly there. And they have made it clear they plan on adding more South America and have been working on it for years. Nothing new here. Spirit is the clear LCC leader in this part of the world with a very methodical strategy. They fly to more Caribbean than Jet Blue, more Central America than Jet Blue and yes, they already fly to South America.

 

[FA Mikey]

No sub-fleet needed. All airplanes have the ability and certification for overwater. Not ETOPS but up to almost 500miles from a useable airport.

Do all your planes have rafts and a life vest at every seat?

 

[CHQDRVR]

Yes. E190s as well. Originally the idea was to allow direct routing from JFK to South Florida via the overwater routes and skip the nightly traffic jam over J209...