B6 Announces Service To Bos

[weatherman]

JetBlue will begin serving BOS in January with 7 daily flights:

3 MCO
2 TPA
1 FLL
1 DEN

I find DEN a surprise and also the fact that FLL is only 1 daily. I am sure they will beef up the FL flights when new planes arrive. Should be interesting between Song and B6 in BOS.

 

[runway4]

It's about time! This one's been birthin' forever. Where did they finally get gate space?

 

[AAG2000]

I find it interesting that they're going directly after Song in the 3 Florida markets. DEN makes sense because UA currently has a monopoly on that route, but I would have expected B6's first markets to be FLL, OAK, and LGB. Still, Boston-Florida is a huge market, especially in the winter, and I'm sure B6 will do just fine.

 

[viggen597]

I find it interesting that they're going directly after Song in the 3 Florida markets. DEN makes sense because UA currently has a monopoly on that route, but I would have expected B6's first markets to be FLL, OAK, and LGB. Still, Boston-Florida is a huge market, especially in the winter, and I'm sure B6 will do just fine.

WOW.

B6 is really going after Song! Im surprised as well to see BOS-DEN, but its also nice to see B6 picking up the pace.

As per a few of our pilots, they questioned whether or not the 320 can make it from LGB/OAK to BOS. They werent sure if the "numbers would add up" ... anyone have any insight on this?

Keep in mind that LGB is slot constrained. There is a rumor that theyre dropping LGB-LAS for something more long haul, maybe ORD or DFW???

 

[AAG2000]

As per a few of our pilots, they questioned whether or not the 320 can make it from LGB/OAK to BOS. They werent sure if the "numbers would add up" ... anyone have any insight on this?

You may be right...I hadn't thought of that, but now that I look at the schedules, I see that UA uses some A320s from SFO to BOS eastbound, but only 757s westbound. Ditto at LAX. HP, meanwhile, will be flying BOS-LAX with A319s, which have slightly longer legs.

Thanks for pointing that out.

 

[BlueFlyer21]

Perhaps they *could* operate the 320 westbound with a weight restriction, and still make a profit. Not sure.

 

[airlineman]

If Neeleman would have ordered A319s, he would not have to worry about weight restrictions between the West Coast and Boston. It's not like Boston wasn't on the radar screen since day one.

It still makes sense to get the A319s for markets that are too small for the A320 and too large for the Embraer RJs.

 

[AAG2000]

If Neeleman would have ordered A319s, he would not have to worry about weight restrictions between the West Coast and Boston.

Or if he had ordered 737s... 🙂

I think the problem with A319s is that the seat-mile cost is higher. And the ability to fly 2 more routes--out of the whole 48 states--is probably not enough to justify those additional costs.

 

[airlineman]

A319s can also be used between other, smaller markets:

BUF-LGB
BUF-OAK
BUF-SAN
BUF-LAS
BOS-SAN
BOS-MSY

Those are just some examples, connecting some of JetBlue's present destinations.

The trouble with the RJ's is that they can connect mid-range routes only, no trancons are possible.

I understand the financial reasons for ordering the RJ's. But from an operational standpoint, ordering A319s and A318s would have given JetBlue much more flexibilty.

 

[funguy2]

If Neeleman would have ordered A319s, he would not have to worry about weight restrictions between the West Coast and Boston. It's not like Boston wasn't on the radar screen since day one.

It still makes sense to get the A319s for markets that are too small for the A320 and too large for the Embraer RJs.

Boston may have been on the radar screen since day one, but the west coast was not. If you recall, JetBlue's original Business Plan involved flying the 320's to places like Charleston, SC and Grand Rapids, MI from JFK.

From a 1999 press release regarding their "mega-start-up":

"The company has not yet announced its final route structure but is considering service to 44 cities: Atlanta; Boston; Buffalo; Burlington, VT; Canton/Akron; Charleston, SC; Charleston, WV; Charlotte; Chicago; Cincinnati; Cleveland; Columbia, SC; Columbus, OH; Dallas/Fort Worth; Dayton; Denver; Flint; Ft. Lauderdale; Ft. Myers; Grand Rapids, MI; Greensboro, NC; Greenville/Spartanburg; Houston; Indianapolis; Jacksonville, FL; Louisville; Memphis; Milwaukee; Minneapolis/St Paul; Nashville; New Orleans; Norfolk; Orlando; Pittsburgh; Portland, ME; Raleigh/Durham; Richmond; Rochester, NY; Salt Lake City; Savannah; Syracuse; Tampa; Washington, DC; and West Palm Beach."

The most western city on that list that I see is Salt Lake. The full press release:

Jet Blue Start-Up Press Release

 

[funguy2]

A319s can also be used between other, smaller markets:

BUF-LGB
BUF-OAK
BUF-SAN
BUF-LAS
BOS-SAN
BOS-MSY

Those are just some examples, connecting some of JetBlue's present destinations.

The trouble with the RJ's is that they can connect mid-range routes only, no trancons are possible.

I understand the financial reasons for ordering the RJ's. But from an operational standpoint, ordering A319s and A318s would have given JetBlue much more flexibilty.

While the 319 could give JetBlue the advantage of having a slightly smaller aircraft with commonality, they obviously decided against it.

Routes like the BUF routes you mentioned probably would not work. BUF does not have enough demand to the west coast for transcons. Southwest makes their BUF-PHX/LAS flights work because they have a multitude of connecting opportunities, and the demand for BUF-LAS/PHX/OAK/LAX/SNA/SAN/SEA/PDX/etc is enough that they can successfully fill up 2 airplanes.

Other "failed" transcon markets:

BDL-LAX - AA pulled it
CMH-LAX - HP pulled it (even had their CMH minihub to feed it)
RDU-LAX - didn't work for Midway, even with an RDU hub

So why would BUF-OAK work with no feed?

JetBlue has better A320 opportunities, like IAD-MCO/TPA/LAS, MCO-BUF/ROC in the winter, ATL-JFK, more service on JFK transcons like DEN, SEA, SLC.

Having said all that, I bet JetBlue does well in Boston this winter. I would bet that they add BOS-IAD by next summer and double BOS-Florida service by next winter.

 

[PLANES333]

I doubt Jetblue will fly from BOS to IAD or JFK to BOS or WAS anytime soon. These markets are already saturated by services that Jetblue just cant compete with. There is no way Jetblue can have hourly service to BOS from JFK when they could use those same aircraft to expand into more lucrative markets.

 

[wrx]

If JB was smart they would build big out of LGB and fly to westcoast destinations. Everyone has basically pulled out of the West. Everyone concentrates on the East. Now would be the time for JB to do it and get established!!

 

[PLANES333]

If JB was smart they would build big out of LGB and fly to westcoast destinations. Everyone has basically pulled out of the West. Everyone concentrates on the East. Now would be the time for JB to do it and get established!!

They cant expand to anymore flight from LGB, as they have already utilized all of their slots. They already had to cut flight to ATL becuase the temporary slot they were given which is owned by AS, had to be given back. The only way thy can add new destinations from LGB is if they cut flights to other places. I have heard David say many times that company plans to eliminate many of the LGB-OAK and LGB-LAS frequencies, so that they can add more flights to East coast destinations, as there is more revenue potential on the trans-cons.

On a side note, just becuase B6, can not expand out of LGB, doesnt meen they cant grow larger out west. Dave Barger, told us in a pocket session, that OAK is very succesful for B6. Maybe that will be the next focus city? It would make sense. Customers are always requesting more flights to OAK, I just dont think that B6 would serve short-haul flights from OAK, as WN would get in the way.