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Aug 30, 2002
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Stewart landing JetBlue
Low-fair carrier plans Florida links


By Craig Wolf
Poughkeepsie Journal


NEW WINDSOR — Today is a red-letter day for Stewart International Airport as it turns blue — JetBlue.

Bookings to three Florida favorites can be made soon.

U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-New York, confirmed Tuesday afternoon the deal has been made. He planned to be at the airport this morning to trumpet the arrival of what is probably Stewart’s most sought-after airline.

Beginning in December and January, JetBlue Airways, one of the nation’s top low-fare airlines, will link Stewart to three cities. A daily roundtrip nonstop to Orlando and one to Fort Lauderdale will begin Dec. 19. On Jan. 5, a second daily roundtrip to those cities will be added. And, that day, a single daily flight to West Palm Beach will commence.

A spokeswoman at Schumer’s office said David Neeleman, JetBlue founder and CEO, will also speak this morning.

‘‘JetBlue has decided to make a major commitment to Stewart,’’ Schumer told reporters Tuesday afternoon in a teleconference.

Airport spokeswoman Tanya Vanasse declined to confirm the report, other than to say the news conference is on.

‘‘It is an extremely big announcement and it will have a very positive impact on the airport and we’re extremely excited,’’ Vanasse said.
Mary Truncale, owner of Hooker Avenue Travel, said having JetBlue at Stewart would be ‘‘fabulous.’’

‘‘Everyone is tired of New York City airports, and I think it will be a wonderful thing,’’ she said. ‘‘This is a service seat 156 passengers. That adds 780 seats a day out of Stewart, which comes to a potential 285,000 seats a year. Along with AirTran Airways, which plans to start service from Stewart around the same time, this gives Stewart the potential to more than double its annual volume, which has been declining for about a year.

Jet Blue already flies out of the three metropolitan airports: JFK, LaGuardia and Newark.

The Stewart flights will go to the same cities as those from LaGuardia. JetBlue serves five cities from Newark. JFK is its major center, or ‘‘key city,’’ with service to most cities on the total list.

The Stewart opening flight list is bigger than that of other upstate New York cities served by JetBlue, which are Buffalo, Syracuse and Rochester.

JetBlue flies from Buffalo and Syracuse to two cities each, and from Rochester to JFK.

Introductory fares will be $79 each way, Schumer said. Regular fares range from $99 to $299.

Schumer said, ‘‘This is something I have made a mission of. I probably mentioned Stewart to JetBlue 100 times in the last six years.’’

Irwin M. Goldberg contributed to this report. Craig Wolf can be reached at [email protected]
 
I think exnw just hit the nail on the head. SWF has made the case for years that it's an underserved airport, but, IMHO, it's also been an underperforming airport. I don't believe that most people in the NYC region see it as an "alternative" to the three big NYC airports.

It will take a massive performance improvement to make these flights work. I think either B6 or FL - or both - will end up regretting this move. Time will tell.
 
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I think exnw just hit the nail on the head. SWF has made the case for years that it's an underserved airport, but, IMHO, it's also been an underperforming airport. I don't believe that most people in the NYC region see it as an "alternative" to the three big NYC airports.

It will take a massive performance improvement to make these flights work. I think either B6 or FL - or both - will end up regretting this move. Time will tell.

If SWF can't support both new carriers, one of them should try shifting the flights to ABE.
 
I think exnw just hit the nail on the head. SWF has made the case for years that it's an underserved airport, but, IMHO, it's also been an underperforming airport. I don't believe that most people in the NYC region see it as an "alternative" to the three big NYC airports.

It will take a massive performance improvement to make these flights work. I think either B6 or FL - or both - will end up regretting this move. Time will tell.

It can be an alternative. Whowver lives north of the
city it may be an attractive alternative. It will attract
the leisure traveler to florida. Most business travelers
will need to fly to other cities so SWF will not be an
option.
 
It can be an alternative. Whowver lives north of the
city it may be an attractive alternative. It will attract
the leisure traveler to florida. Most business travelers
will need to fly to other cities so SWF will not be an
option.


That's the case that SWF's been trying to make for years, but the numbers really haven't supported the argument. From time to time, carriers have added service there w/ some fanfare, and in most cases that service has quietly disappeared. Now, two lcc's announce new service within days of each other. Maybe they'll make it work - but if history is any barometer, they'll have a tough time filling all of those seats.

I think B6 may have an especially tough time because they're trying to fill A320s and all of their traffic will have to be O&D. At least AirTran will have the benefit of some connecting traffic on their Atlanta flights and they're flying smaller 717s. Still, I think it's going to be a challenge for both.
 
That's the case that SWF's been trying to make for years, but the numbers really haven't supported the argument. From time to time, carriers have added service there w/ some fanfare, and in most cases that service has quietly disappeared. Now, two lcc's announce new service within days of each other. Maybe they'll make it work - but if history is any barometer, they'll have a tough time filling all of those seats.

I think B6 may have an especially tough time because they're trying to fill A320s and all of their traffic will have to be O&D. At least AirTran will have the benefit of some connecting traffic on their Atlanta flights and they're flying smaller 717s. Still, I think it's going to be a challenge for both.
I agree. I might -- MIGHT fly out of HPN if I waited too long to make Thanksgiving reservations, let's say, and there's nothing else left. But as a city resident, SWF is just too far; I would never consider it, really. I remember it was our alternate back when I worked for PE; the runways are quite substantial there.

B6 probably wants to get more business flyers in its mix, so this doesn't seem to work toward that goal. I know IBM has a huge facility not too far from there and Poughkeepsie is nearby, but I might have put my eggs in another basket.
 

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