Point to Point?

[ICUNMCO]

I was just reading this article in Business Week and it referred to Jetblue as a point to point carrier, like Southwest. I have seen that on several news articles and was wondering, is Jetblue a true point to point carrier?
I went to Jetblue.com and looked up some random flights, ex MCO-SLC and it shows connect at JFK. As with most of there flights they all showed connections.
What exactly makes a Point to Point Carrier? I know here at Southwest, we have numerous examples of point to point flying. ex, MHT-BNA-SAN, MHT-BWI-SDF-LAS. PVD-BWI-RDU-MCO-FLL and everyones favorite, same flight # MCO-CMH-MDW-PHX-ONT.

 

[viggen597]

I dont think jetBlue is point to point, as LUV is. Take a look at their route map, most flights originate out of JFK. B6 has a good combination of short haul, medium haul, and long haul flights.

http://www.jetblue.com/travelinfo/routemap.html

 

[Blue Dude]

I think JetBlue is point to point in the sense that most of their traffic is O/D as opposed to connecting. The fact that one end of the O/D is mostly the same airport (JFK) doesn''t take away from that. There are some connecting passengers, but the operation at JFK doesn''t exist primarily to serve them. It exists primarily to get New Yorkers to and from somewhere else, which is the definition of point to point.

 

[funguy2]

Blue Dude:

I agree. Another good example of point-to-point is Spirit Airlines. They may have a focus on a few cities, but generally they attempt to provide nonstop service in markets that can support it... Not a connecting hub.

JB combines the NYC O/D traffic with a tiny hub-like structure, but is certainly more point-to-point than most majors.

Southwest was also designed around the point-to-point system as well, but some of their ''points'' have become so large, that they have become hub-like (i.e. BWI, MDW, LAS, PHX)

 

[JS]

Excellent question and responses.

To be precise, "point-to-point" does not have a yes/no answer. "Point-to-point"-ness ranges from 0% (all passengers connect) to 100% (all passengers fly non-stop).

Simply take number of passengers who do not connect and divide by total number of passengers (or you could do revenue passenger miles), and that is what I like to call the "point-to-point ratio". Or you could take one minus that and you get the "connecting ratio".