U.S. Airlines Plans to Increase Flights to Cuba

More airlines are preparing to fly to Cuba, according to the Wall Street Journal.

With restrictions on travel to the Communist-ruled island loosened earlier this year, four large U.S. airlines – American Airlines, JetBlue, United Continental and Delta Air Lines – will operate about 25 weekly flights to Cuba for charter companies by the end of the year, the report says.

Charter companies estimate about 400,000 Americans will fly to Cuba this year vs. 250,000 last year, the report says. In January, President Obama liberalized travel rules to Cuba for students and religious and cultural groups.

American has been flying to Cuba for two decades. JetBlue arrived last month. United Continental and Delta are resuming weekly service to Cuba after a seven-year hiatus, the report says.

JetBlue Launch Nonstop Flight and Low-Fare Airline Tickets from San Juan to St. Maarten

The low-fare/high-frills airline is set to launch nonstop San Juan flights to St. Maarten November 17 – subject to government approval.

This would make the discount airline’s eighth route out of San Juan, and its third from St. Maarten. Here’s what that means for you: This summer JetBlue will loft 27 daily departures from SJU and 34 daily flights from Puerto Rico proper. New San Juan flights to St. Maarten will spawn a slew of convenient connections from New York Kennedy, Boston Logan, Orlando International, and Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood.

Seems the service JetBlue already offers to St. Maarten has been a boon to the island and the folks who fly there. It’s “changed the landscape of tourism in St. Maarten,” says Director of Tourism Regina LaBega, the island. “The airfares from key markets…have become more affordable.” That means more visitors.

OAG indicates there are no nonstop San Juan flights to St. Maarten. Right now there are ten nonstop routes to the island from the United States: Delta fields Atlanta flights to St. Maarten. JetBlue offers Boston flights to St. Maarten. United lofts Chicago flights to St. Maarten. American operates Miami flights to St. Maarten. JetBlue and American have New York flights to St. Maarten, and Continental New York/Newark flights to St. Maarten. US Airways lofts Philadelphia flights to St. Maarten, and United Washington, D.C. flights to St. Maarten.

JetBlue plans to deploy Embraer E-190 twinjets on the San Juan – St. Maarten route.

Get JetBlue Partner Airlines Ticket on JetBlue Dot Com

JetBlue Airways is making it even easier to travel on its interline partners with today’s announcement that tickets that include travel on Aer Lingus, American Airlines and Cape Air are now available for sale on jetblue.com. Aer Lingus and American Airlines tickets that include travel on JetBlue are already available on aerlingus.com and aa.com.

“Our growing presence in New York, Boston, and San Juan has positioned us to take advantage of important partnership opportunities,” said Robin Hayes, JetBlue’s Chief Commercial Officer. “This ability leverages our jetblue.com platform to drive even more benefit from our interline partnerships, while adding tremendous advantages to our customer, with more options and flexibility.”

For years, JetBlue’s website has made it easy for customers to book travel anywhere within the JetBlue network in just a few clicks. With this website enhancement, JetBlue is expanding the geographic reach of the site, allowing customers to book travel from within the JetBlue network to new international markets in Europe, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean – still with just a few easy clicks (a).

Aer Lingus

“Today’s announcement marks the continued development of Aer Lingus’ partnership with JetBlue, with a focus on providing customers with increased options from more U.S. markets to Ireland and other European destinations,” said Jack Foley, Aer Lingus’ Executive Vice President, North America. “Moreover, it reaffirms Aer Lingus’ commitment to providing low fares access for customers from new markets across the U.S.”

Now both jetblue.com and aerlingus.com, successful partners since 2008, offer customers the option to purchase tickets that include space on both carriers. Customers can fly from points within the JetBlue network to Boston or JFK, connect to Aer Lingus’ transatlantic service to Ireland, and then to over a dozen destinations across Europe.

American Airlines

“Our successful partnership with JetBlue has given our customers more travel options and has allowed us to grow in new markets,” said Virasb Vahidi, American’s Chief Commercial Officer. “With this new milestone of selling our tickets on each other’s website, our customers will benefit more from the strong networks of both airlines.”

Now, an American customer can buy AA tickets at jetblue.com, and a JetBlue customer can purchase JetBlue tickets at aa.com – giving customers of both carriers new sales channels from which to purchase tickets. The two carriers launched their partnership in March 2010 with an enhanced interline agreement, slot exchange and employee travel program. To date, the carriers have added new interline routes, instituted benefits to members of both carriers’ frequent flier programs and, with today’s announcement, allow customers to buy tickets on each others websites. To learn more about this partnership, go to: http://www.jetblue.com/flying-on-jetblue/airline-partners/american-airlines.asp.

Bookings are available to and from any of the 26 domestic JetBlue cities, and the 15 international American Airlines cities that are included in the carriers’ interline agreement. Furthermore, TrueBlue members are now able to rack up points on American’s flights between New York’s Kennedy Airport and Barcelona, Spain; Brussels, Belgium; Buenos Aires, Argentina; London, England; Madrid, Spain; Manchester, England; Milan, Italy; Paris, France; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Rome, Italy; Sao Paulo, Brazil; Tokyo (Narita), Japan; Tokyo (Haneda), Japan; and Zurich, Switzerland, as well as American’s new non-stop service to Budapest, Hungary. Customers flying or connecting through Boston can also earn points when flying to London, England and Paris, France.

Cape Air

“The timing is perfect,” said Cape Air President Dave Bushy. “As our busy summer season approaches on Cape Cod and the Islands, as well as the Caribbean and Florida, the ease of booking the entire trip on-line, with direct baggage transfers, is a huge convenience for our passengers.”

Cape Air was JetBlue’s first airline partner dating back to 2007 when JetBlue began to market and sell Cape Air flights between Boston and Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard, Provincetown, Hyannis and Rutland, Vermont under a codeshare agreement. Today’s announcement of the interline capabilities of jetblue.com will provide customers with access to an expanded list of destinations in Cape Air’s Northeast U.S. network, as well as to its Caribbean network via San Juan, P.R. and to Key West, Florida via Fort Myers.

Other Interline Partners

JetBlue has interline agreements in place with six other airlines: EL AL Israel Airlines, Emirates, LAN Airlines, Lufthansa, South African Airways, and Virgin Atlantic Airways. Although customers cannot yet use jetblue.com to book tickets that include space on those airlines, it expects to add more partners to the website over the coming year.

JetBlue Offers Discount Flights to Barbados, Caribbean Islands

If you’re one of those people who revels in festivals, here’s one you might have missed: Barbados’ annual Crop Over. From July 1 through August 1, a whole month, the Caribbean island is a perpetual state of party.

This fact isn’t lost on discount airline JetBlue. While the carrier already offers a daily morning New York flight to Barbados, this summer it’s laying on a second daily sojourn – the better to carry partiers to the epicenter of the action.

The extra New York flight to Barbados will operate July 14 through August 29. It’s scheduled to depart JFK at 11:00 p.m. and arrive Grantley Adams International Airport in Bridgetown at 3:52 a.m. Don’t party too hard (or just plan to stay up) because the extra return Barbados to New York flight leaves at 5:00 a.m. and arrives JFK at 9:48. That puts you in position to connect to a number of JetBlue flights from the carrier’s Kennedy hub.

So what’s Crop Over all about? It dates back to the 1780s, when the island was one of the prime sugar producers on the planet. Today the festival is celebrated in quintessential Caribbean style with live soca and calypso music, dancing, arts and crafts, cultural presentations and non-stop partying. Crop Over’s grand finale comes on the last day of the doings, on August 1. It’s called Kadooment Day and is capped off with a parade, costumed revelers and plenty of rum.

Discount airline JetBlue isn’t the only way to get to Barbados from the Big Apple. American Airlines also offers nonstop New York flights to Barbados. It too flies from JFK.

Virgin Atlantic and JetBlue Airways Announce New Transatlantic Interline Partnership

Virgin Atlantic and JetBlue Airways have announced a new transatlantic interline partnership linking both airlines’ route networks.

Under this agreement, Virgin Atlantic passengers travelling from London, Glasgow and Manchester can now purchase single itineraries combining travel on both Virgin Atlantic and JetBlue flights from JetBlue’s Boston, New York, Washington and Orlando bases.

Air passengers will now be offered one-stop ticketing and baggage check-in whether their travel starts with Virgin Atlantic or JetBlue.

Edmond Rose, Director of Commercial and Revenue Planning for Virgin Atlantic said, “We are delighted to begin this interline cooperation with JetBlue.This partnership will offer Virgin Atlantic passengers a streamlined journey between our four U.K. airports and many cities across the U.S. and Puerto Rico, enjoying the highest standards of service throughout their travels.”

Delta Airlines Plans Improved Facilities for New York Airports

Largely due to the massive volume of airline passengers in the New York Metropolitan area – a major hub for financial and cultural affairs – New York is now considered to be one of the most important and competitive aviation markets in the world; and Delta wants to be crowned king of the castle.

Currently in competition for number one airline are Delta, American Airlines, Continental, and JetBlue. To get ahead of the competition, Delta is making major changes at two of its New York airports – LaGuardia and John F Kennedy.

At LaGuardia, where Delta is in charge of Terminal D, the airline has announced a major upgrade to its food and dining areas; adding full-service restaurants, wine bars, and designer pizza parlours as well as upscaling its fast food offerings.

At John F Kennedy, Delta plans to vacate its current home in Terminal 3 and head to better, brighter ground. (Terminal 3 is well-known to travellers as an old and dark building that is long past its sell-by date.) Instead, Delta will be housing its International flights in a $0.2 billion US expansion of Terminal 4, with the airline’s domestic flights continuing to run from Terminal 2. As for Terminal 3 – the plans are to demolish the old girl; as Pan Am Worldport she served Kennedy well, but it is time to say goodbye.

The scheduled renovations will begin later this month and are expected to take about two years to complete.

New York has long been a favoured holiday and business destination for UK travellers.

JetBlue Airways and Southwest Airlines Top Major Airlines in Quality

Large airlines are faring better, but smaller airlines are top performers

Discount carriers JetBlue, Southwest and Frontier – a subsidiary of Republic Airways Holdings rank among the top airlines in terms of quality and service, despite their small size – showing these medium airlines are proving formidable foes to traditional carriers.

The much larger airlines – American, Delta, United, and US Airways – ranked the lowest in customer satisfaction, in that order. The survey indicates that older airline fleets and legacy employees tended to cause negative consumer perceptions.

That’s according to a new USA Today analysis of Transportation Department consumer complaints, consumer reports of Zagat Survey and J.D. Power and Associates, and the Airline Quality Rating system of professors at Wichita State and Purdue universities. All the reports were mostly consistent in identifying the airlines’ overall performances.

While certainly a blow to the big-name carriers, the news isn’t really that surprising. The traditional airlines have huge overheads, such as high labor costs, larger fleets, more connecting flights and international routes. To maintain or increase profits, the result is passing that bill to their customers, with paying for baggage and better coach seating being the prime examples. Smaller airlines don’t bother, and tout their strength of service and no fees with customers.

That strong consumer satisfaction and loyalty is showing up in the airlines’ profit margin. JetBlue and Southwest – both just a decade old – have posted strong earnings compared to their big-boy competitors, all during the last two years of an economic downturn in which travel was on the decline. JetBlue’s second-quarter profit was $30 million (10 cents a share), compared to $20 million (7 cents a share), in the same period a year ago.

Southwest reported second quarter 2010 net income of $112 million ($.15 per diluted share), compared to net income of $91 million ( $.12 per diluted share) for the second quarter last year. A mainstay at the company since 1986, CEO Gary C. Kelly is a respected leader, named one of the best CEOs in America for 2008 and 2009 by Institutional Investor magazine. Though he’s only been at the position since 2008, he’s carried the company through difficult times. LUV is up +6% since the end of August.

Traditional carriers, however, are recently getting back on their feet. While UAL Corp (UAUA and US Air have seen big gains in share price, the truth is a little more complex. In fact, they’ve only recently returned to profitability. LCC has been down consecutively in its earnings report for years, with its only recent positive EPS +1.34%. UAUA may be up +68% year-to-dates against the Dow and NASDAQ, but its EPS was down the last three quarters as well. It’s up +1.95 in the second quarter of this year.

The United and Continental Airlines $3.2 billion merger set for Sept. 17 could also help JBLU and LUV. If the new airline — to be the largest in the U.S. – shuts down hubs in smaller markets, something analysts expect, closures may help the discount carriers even further.

If consumers remember the discount carriers’ quality service, they’ll return again and again, and keep pushing the stock up. Customer kudos and loyalty is a win for the little guys – even as the big guys prepare to reload.

source : investorplace.com

JetBlue to Compete With Delta and US Airways Daily Flights Services to Newark-Bouston Destination Flights

Airline will add four daily flights along Northeast route to compete with Delta and US Airways; lower fares foreseen.

JetBlue Airways announced Wednesday that it will start offering daily service from Newark Liberty International Airport to Boston’s Logan International Airport in May, injecting new competition into a Northeast corridor long dominated by Delta Air Lines and the US Airways.

Queens-based JetBlue plans to launch four daily flights between Newark and Boston. The low-cost carrier already makes up to eight flights per day from John F. Kennedy International Airport to Boston.

“JetBlue is committed to giving travelers more for less, and that is particularly true for our new route to Newark, which currently has some of the highest airfares in America,” said Scott Laurence, the airline’s vice president of network planning in a statement Wednesday.

Though JetBlue declined to give pricing estimates for the new Newark to Boston route, the airline did indicate its fare would be cheaper than the going rate. Its main competition along the New York City-to-Boston route is from the Delta Shuttle and US Airways Shuttle.

Commuters from Newark to Boston paid an average one-way gross fare of $311 during the first quarter of this year, according to U.S. Department of Transportation data compiled by JetBlue. “[That] price is higher than the average fare paid by Boston travelers on any of the six coast-to-coast routes operated by JetBlue from Logan,” the company said in a statement.

Average ticket prices on all carriers from JFK to Boston during the same period were $106 one-way, and $177 one-way from La Guardia Airport.

JetBlue rates on its JFK-to-Boston route range from $49 to $301 one-way, according to an airline spokesman. The airline did not provide an average fare, but pointed out that all of its flights include unlimited snacks and is the only carrier with free live television programming on the route.

US Airways declined to comment on JetBlue’s service, instead pointing out that the US Airways Shuttle offers hourly service from La Guardia to Boston from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. weekdays. US Airways also serves free beer, wine and soft drinks on its shuttle flights.

Delta Air Lines also declined to comment on the JetBlue move, saying only that “La Guardia is the preferred airport for business travelers…and they have long counted on the Delta Shuttle for reliable, convenient hourly service.”

JetBlue’s announcement came just days after discount-rival Southwest Airlines won 36 flight slots at Newark airport as a concession of the merger between Continental Airlines and US Airways. Assuming it receives the necessary governmental approvals, Southwest can start operations at Newark as early as March.

JetBlue is the largest carrier at its home base of JFK, moving more than 11.5 million passengers through the airport over the 12 months ended in June. It currently has a small presence at Newark Liberty, from which it serves five cities in Florida, carrying fewer than 980,000 passengers over the same period. JetBlue was the sixth-ranked carrier at the New Jersey airport.

Jetblue Plays Coy About Flight Attendant Fiasco

In a company blog posting, the airline poked fun at the attention directed at the case of Steven Slater, who cursed out a passenger over a plane’s loud speaker on Monday and then jumped down the emergency slide.

“Perhaps you heard a little story about one of our flight attendants?” the blog joked. JetBlue didn’t disclose any information on the case, saying it will let “people speak on their own behalf.”

In a posting titled “Sometimes the weird news is about us,” JetBlue noted while it isn’t talking, plenty of others have formed opinions.
Read more

Incident on Jetblue Flight: Give Some Respect for Flight Attendants, Please

Incident that occurred at JetBlue flights have caused the pros and cons of the various communities with different views of the public. We recommend that all parties mutually self-correcting, both passengers and flight attendants.

The case originated from a fight a JetBlue flight stewardess (Steven Slater) and JebBlue passenger aircraft.

Steven Slater, a JetBlue flight attendant, got into an argument with a passenger who was trying to remove a bag from the overhead bin while the plane was still taxiing, according to a source familiar with the incident.
Read more

Next Page »