Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

JetBlue expands in Vegas with N.Y. flights

JetBlue Airways, the up-and-coming low-fare air carrier that inaugurated Las Vegas service to Southern California last month, will fly two nonstop round trips a day between McCarran International Airport and New York City beginning in January.

The airline's service to and from John F. Kennedy International Airport will compete directly with Las Vegas-based National Airlines and McCarran's No. 2 air carrier, America West.

McCarran's largest air carrier, Southwest Airlines, could be marginally affected by the move, since it offers flights to and from Islip, N.Y., on Long Island, about 60 miles from the JFK airport. None of Southwest's flights between New York and Las Vegas are nonstops.

Beginning Jan. 7, JetBlue's New York flights will leave Las Vegas daily at 9:50 a.m. and 10:35 p.m., arriving at 5:50 p.m. and at 6:25 a.m. the next day. The return flights leave New York at 8:30 a.m. and 6:50 p.m., arriving at 11 a.m. and 9:40 p.m.

The airline will use twin-engine 165-passenger Airbus A-320 jets on the route. The company is taking delivery of four A-320s by the end of the year and currently operates a fleet of 32 of the jets.

"We've always looked at Las Vegas as a place we wanted to fly to from New York," said Dave Barger, president and chief operating officer of JetBlue. "It takes airplane delivery to fly the longer hauls so we were just waiting for the planes to be available."

The company is introducing the new service with some tickets costing $99 one way, plus tax.

"The three questions I was always asked when I first came to work for JetBlue were 'When are you going to begin flying?' then 'When are you going to go public?' " said Gareth Edmonson-Jones, a spokesman for the airline. "We answered those questions already. Then came, 'When are you going to fly to Vegas from New York?' and now I think we've answered that question."

An airline analyst said JetBlue's decision to enter the New York-Las Vegas market will result in new competitive challenges for National.

"They've (JetBlue) done a very good job of burnishing their image and awareness in New York," said Robert Mann of R.W. Mann & Co., Port Washington, N.Y. "That should make it much more difficult for carriers like National."

Mann noted that JetBlue has chosen its markets carefully, avoiding head-to-head competition with major carriers like American, United and Delta, and the Las Vegas service is one more example of that.

"There's another theory that the more noise that's created, the more the tide rises for everyone and that maybe this would help National," Mann said. "But JetBlue's awareness in the New York market should help them because they have a very good buzz going for them right now."

JetBlue entered the Las Vegas market Oct. 10 with daily service between McCarran and Long Beach, Calif., the airline's West Coast hub.

JFK is JetBlue's East Coast stronghold and Las Vegas flights will connect favorably with the airline's existing service to and from Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse, N.Y., and Burlington, Vt. The airline also is strong in Florida, with routes to Fort Lauderdale, Tampa, Orlando, Fort Myers and West Palm Beach.

The 2 1/2-year-old Kew Gardens, N.Y.-based carrier has been the focus of considerable public attention because it is one of the few airlines that have been profitable. Analysts say much of the company's success with profitability comes from having a nearly new fleet that requires little maintenance.

Like Southwest Airlines, the airline flies one aircraft type, reducing maintenance and parts inventory costs. The company also encourages passengers to book flights from its Internet site, reducing costs, pays no travel agency commissions, serves no meals on flights and uses each plane longer each day than other airlines to maximize the use of its fleet.

The airline also has been well received by the public. The company also announced today that it had been named Best Domestic Airline in Conde Nast Traveler magazine's 2002 Readers' Choice Awards. The company received the award in a ceremony in Hawaii Sunday.

National Airlines finished ninth in the same poll, trailing Midwest Express, Alaska, American, Continental, Hawaiian, Horizon Air and United.

JetBlue distinguishes itself from other carriers with free satellite television programming on screens available at each seat in its planes.

Barger said although gambling is readily available to New Yorkers in Atlantic City and Connecticut and soon at New York-based horse tracks and Indian reservations, Las Vegas would not be a hard sell because of what it offers.

"Vegas is branded," Barger said. "If you're in New York and you consider going to Atlantic City, you may as well go to Vegas because with traffic, it takes 3 1/2 hours to get there and we can fly you to Las Vegas in about the same amount of time.

"Connecticut and Atlantic City don't have near the amenities that Las Vegas has. At the end of the day, there's no comparison. These are casinos; Las Vegas is a destination."

Barger said if the two New York-Las Vegas flights are successful, additional trips could be added when new jets are delivered.

"We started our Fort Lauderdale service with three flights a day and now we have 16," Barger said. "We consider Broward County (in Florida) to be New York's sixth borough. We also started our service to Long Beach with two flights and now we have five."

Barger said he thinks JetBlue will have an advantage on its competitors, even though National and America West have been in the market longer. America West has five daily round trips between JFK and Las Vegas, while National has three daily and one that operates five days a week.

"Demographics suggest that most traffic on that route originates out of New York," he said. "We think people will identify more with the JetBlue brand in New York. National and America West are not New York brands, they just fly here."

Barger said Continental Airlines, which flies nonstop between Newark, N.J., and Las Vegas, could also be a formidable competitor because it offers six flights a day. The Newark airport is a Continental hub and is located just outside New York City.

In addition, America West has two round trips a day between Las Vegas and Newark and National has one a day plus a flight that operates four days a week.

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