JBU drops KSMF-KIAD route

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[ This means another lost day of flight. -Ed. ]

http://www.sacbee.com/content/busine...14760944c.html

JetBlue cancels red-eye to D.C.
The carrier says it didn't attract enough business on flights from
Sacramento.

Published 2:15 am PST Thursday, December 1, 2005

Low-fare carrier JetBlue Airways will drop its nonstop service between
Sacramento and Washington, D.C., on Jan. 5, citing insufficient demand
for seats on its red-eye flight to the nation's capital.

The carrier, which has attracted a loyal following for its leather
seats, in-flight TV and friendly employees, will continue to operate
its single, daily nonstop between Sacramento and New York's John F.
Kennedy Airport.

JetBlue spokesman Bryan Baldwin said Wednesday the fast-growing carrier
wasn't getting enough business on the route to Dulles International
Airport to justify the flights.

"We just aren't seeing the loads we were expecting," he said of the
service, which started in May 2004. "We have a lot of growth plans from
the Northeast to Florida and we can utilize the aircraft on those
routes," he said.

That's little comfort to Jay Chamberlin, a state worker from Davis who
said he's become a fan of the carrier.

"That's terrible news. ... They're a great service, and always on
time," he said. "While their fares weren't always rock-bottom, they
were always affordable. It was the kind of thing you could justify for
a weekend jaunt."

Baldwin said JetBlue employs 10 workers in Sacramento and doesn't
expect any layoffs.

JetBlue's exit from the market leaves United Airlines as the only
carrier with a nonstop flight between Sacramento and Washington, D.C.
After dropping those flights soon after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks,
United resumed them a month after JetBlue started its service to
Dulles.

Baldwin declined to say what JetBlue's passenger loads were out of
Sacramento, but airline analyst Mike Boyd said only about 65 percent of
seats were filled during the first half of the year, compared with more
than 80 percent on most JetBlue routes.

United's flight, which flies during the day, fills about 83 percent of
its seats, said Boyd, president of the Evergreen, Colo.-based Boyd
Group. He speculated that United did better both because of its daytime
schedule and because Dulles is a United hub for other destinations.

Though it's rare for JetBlue to drop routes entirely, he said, it isn't
unprecedented. Several years ago, it pulled out of the Atlanta market
after Delta Air Lines started cutting fares to match JetBlue's. "That's
the measure of a successful airline, one that can move and be
flexible," he said.

Joe Brancatelli, who publishes the business travel Web site
Joesentme.com, said JetBlue can make more money flying passengers for
$79 from New York to Florida than it can charging $99 for
transcontinental flights, especially given soaring fuel prices.

He also said the company probably figures many passengers will likely
drive to Oakland, where the airline operates two daily nonstops to
Washington.

Gina Swankie, a spokeswoman for Sacramento International Airport, said
losing the JetBlue flight is disappointing, but she held out hope that
the airline could re-establish service.

"We hope that as the market changes, they will come back. They wouldn't
be the first to drop service and reinstate it later."

Baldwin said JetBlue passengers who are holding reservations for dates
beyond Jan. 5, when the service is discontinued, have the option of
receiving full refunds or being rebooked on flights out of Oakland at a
50 percent discount. The carrier is contacting those passengers.

BL.
- --
Brad Littlejohn | Email:
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