Great article on jetBlue and our future in Southern California. JetBlue may expand from ONT to BOS, IAD, etc with additional flights to JFK. I love LGB, its just a shame that they're at capacity there and they cant expand.
http://www.pe.com/business/local/stories/P...nt27.a0db4.html
Ontario airport courts JetBlue
EXPANSION: The airline could add flights out of the Inland area's largest commercial airfield.
12:00 AM PDT on Thursday, May 27, 2004
By PAUL HERRERA / The Press-Enterprise
JetBlue Airways, the New York-based low-cost carrier, might bring more flights to Ontario International Airport in the next year.
Mark Thorpe, director of air-service marketing for Los Angeles World Airports, said representatives of LAWA and the airline met in New York last week to discuss new service possibilities for Ontario. Potential new routes include flights to Washington, D.C., Boston and New York City, Thorpe said.
Earlier this month, David Neeleman, chairman and chief executive of JetBlue, told a Los Angeles radio station that the airline's only feasible option for expanding service in the Los Angeles area is Ontario. Neeleman told a KNX-AM (1070) interviewer that Long Beach, home to six daily JetBlue flights, has reached its capacity, and the company isn't looking at Los Angeles International Airport as an option.
Last week, a JetBlue spokesman reached by telephone said the company has no immediate expansion plans at Ontario that it could announce. Attempts to reach JetBlue for comment on Wednesday were unsuccessful.
"The reality in Southern California is that if they don't expand to Ontario, they really can't expand at all," Thorpe said.
JetBlue operates one flight from Ontario - a daily, overnight, nonstop flight to New York that airport officials said flies full of passengers despite its midnight departure time.
Thorpe said the potential expansion might be tied to 15 new Airbus aircraft scheduled for delivery this year.
The carrier is in the midst of an aggressive expansion that will add nearly 200 new aircraft to its fleet in the next seven years. The order includes 65 Airbus 320 aircraft with options for up to 50 more by 2012.
Overall, the airline has confirmed orders and options for more than 300 aircraft in the next 12 years, according to JetBlue's 2003 annual report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Thorpe said discussions with JetBlue are in their initial stages.
"Their big concern is the airport costs," he said. "Ontario is a more expensive airport than Long Beach. They actually looked at Ontario before choosing Long Beach but decided to go with the lower costs."
JetBlue has consistently been among the shrewdest of the low-cost airlines in its efforts to keep costs down. In a letter to shareholders, JetBlue reported an industry-leading cost of 6.08 cents per seat per mile, a widely used industry measure.
After losing ground for more than two years following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Ontario International Airport has posted strong gains in the opening months of 2004. The airport added more than 65,000 passengers through the first three months of the year for a 4.4 percent gain. In March, Ontario posted an 8.3 percent gain over the same month in 2003, the largest monthly gain in passenger volume in almost six years.
http://www.pe.com/business/local/stories/P...nt27.a0db4.html
Ontario airport courts JetBlue
EXPANSION: The airline could add flights out of the Inland area's largest commercial airfield.
12:00 AM PDT on Thursday, May 27, 2004
By PAUL HERRERA / The Press-Enterprise
JetBlue Airways, the New York-based low-cost carrier, might bring more flights to Ontario International Airport in the next year.
Mark Thorpe, director of air-service marketing for Los Angeles World Airports, said representatives of LAWA and the airline met in New York last week to discuss new service possibilities for Ontario. Potential new routes include flights to Washington, D.C., Boston and New York City, Thorpe said.
Earlier this month, David Neeleman, chairman and chief executive of JetBlue, told a Los Angeles radio station that the airline's only feasible option for expanding service in the Los Angeles area is Ontario. Neeleman told a KNX-AM (1070) interviewer that Long Beach, home to six daily JetBlue flights, has reached its capacity, and the company isn't looking at Los Angeles International Airport as an option.
Last week, a JetBlue spokesman reached by telephone said the company has no immediate expansion plans at Ontario that it could announce. Attempts to reach JetBlue for comment on Wednesday were unsuccessful.
"The reality in Southern California is that if they don't expand to Ontario, they really can't expand at all," Thorpe said.
JetBlue operates one flight from Ontario - a daily, overnight, nonstop flight to New York that airport officials said flies full of passengers despite its midnight departure time.
Thorpe said the potential expansion might be tied to 15 new Airbus aircraft scheduled for delivery this year.
The carrier is in the midst of an aggressive expansion that will add nearly 200 new aircraft to its fleet in the next seven years. The order includes 65 Airbus 320 aircraft with options for up to 50 more by 2012.
Overall, the airline has confirmed orders and options for more than 300 aircraft in the next 12 years, according to JetBlue's 2003 annual report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Thorpe said discussions with JetBlue are in their initial stages.
"Their big concern is the airport costs," he said. "Ontario is a more expensive airport than Long Beach. They actually looked at Ontario before choosing Long Beach but decided to go with the lower costs."
JetBlue has consistently been among the shrewdest of the low-cost airlines in its efforts to keep costs down. In a letter to shareholders, JetBlue reported an industry-leading cost of 6.08 cents per seat per mile, a widely used industry measure.
After losing ground for more than two years following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Ontario International Airport has posted strong gains in the opening months of 2004. The airport added more than 65,000 passengers through the first three months of the year for a 4.4 percent gain. In March, Ontario posted an 8.3 percent gain over the same month in 2003, the largest monthly gain in passenger volume in almost six years.
