Jetblue announced today it has entered into a marketing partnership with Cape Air. Cape Air will provide connecting service from Boston…a Jetblue hublet, to Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard, Provincetown, and Hyannis. Cape Air operates this service using small Cessna 402 aircraft. The alliance will begin March 19, 2007.
Cape Air might not seem like a good fit for Jetblue to start allying with others, but Cape Air is a good airline to get one’s feet wet. Cape Air itself had a vested interest to work with Jetblue. As the Boston Globe reported in March, Cape Air occupies a gate in Terminal C…one of four Massport wanted to lease to Jetblue by November of 2008. So…everyone wins.
Jetblue will offer its own service to Nantucket from JFK beginning May 24th and ending September 24th, with a single daily flight, with two extra flights operating for weekend travellers. These flights will be operated using Jetblue’s 100-seater Embraer 190 regional jets…which will become the largest planes operating to the island.
For those of us not interested in service to the Cape, Jetblue’s endeavor means they are ready and have relations with other carriers. It indicates four important things.
- Interline electronic ticketing – Airlines often sign ticketing agreements allowing them to issue tickets that contain flights on the other carrier. This is the first time Jetblue has done that. It indicates their willingness to work with others.
- Interline baggage transfer – Jetblue does not send baggage to other carriers. This will be the first time they will. Even without interline ticketing…baggage transfer is a significant incentive when connecting between two carriers
- Interline check-in – Jetblue has advised that passengers will need to check in again at the Cape Air counter, which indicates for now it will not be issuing onward boarding passes. It does not mean it will not in the future or cannot now, however.
- Interline fares – An interline fare is a fare a carrier issues that includes a portion on a second carrier. It is subject to the rules and price set by the carrier who issues the fare…and a prenegotiated percentage of the fare is given to the second carrier. It does not require a codeshare, although it is often part of codeshare arrangements. An analysis of Jetblue’s offer of connecting service on Cape Air indicates it is a codeshare agreement…so it is willing to do such things.
All this means the negotiations we previously referenced with Aer Lingus could be the start of similar arrangements allowing Jetblue to exercise its strength…a hub at a major international airport…a gateway for many foreign carriers into the United States. Before long, Jetblue could be sold as part of reservations on the dozens of airlines who only have one or two points of entry into the United States from their hubs.