Jetblue will be inaugurating service from Buffalo and White Plains to Ft. Myers. Both routes will operate once daily from January 8th through April 30th, using the E190 regional jets. This continues Jetblue’s philosophy of this year of route-building by connecting existing stations.
Jetblue has many deficiencies in its network. These include:
- No Midwestern focus city.
- Despite the fact it has several routes, Salt Lake City is not classified as a focus city and thus no western region focus city.
- Limited regional development out of its West Coast focus cities, partially due to restrictions at Long Beach.
- Over dependence on its JFK hub.
- Underdevelopment of its supposed focus city at Washington-Dulles.
We commend them for building up service at Ft. Lauderdale…for adding more flights that overfly JFK and bypass congestion, and we know they are looking at the same things we criticize.
Jetblue recently terminated service to two cities(Nashville and Columbus) and on one route, and Cincinnatti has said that Jetblue is welcome there, having recently pulled out of Columbus and thus Ohio. The airport has the highest average fares in the country, and has had little luck in attracting a low-cost carrier to bring things down.
They also are considering additional international operations. They have asked for permission to fly from Ft. Lauderdale and Orlando to Bogota, Columbia with daily service. American Airlines has long dominated travel out of South Florida via Miami to Latin America. Spirit only recently has begun competing with them out of Ft. Lauderdale. Jetblue is also applying to launch charter and scheduled service between Canada and the United States.