JBU to cut back KFLL service if new runway isn't built

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Possible good news for SWA?

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business...ness-headlines

JetBlue says it will cut back Fort Lauderdale expansion if new runway
isn't built
By Marcia Heroux Pounds
Business Writer

October 9, 2003

JetBlue Airways will curtail its expansion at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood
International Airport if a second runway isn't built as planned, Chief
Executive David Neeleman said at a meeting of CEOs on Wednesday in Fort
Lauderdale.

Neeleman said JetBlue, which made its first flight from New York to
Fort Lauderdale nearly four years ago, was looking at Miami for
expansion.

The growing airline, which expects to hit $1 billion in revenues at the
end of its third full year of operation, is buying 200 additional
100-seater planes and expects to expand service from Florida. JetBlue
is starting a daily flight to Boston from Fort Lauderdale starting Jan.
16. Neeleman said JetBlue also plans to fly out of other New York
airports; the airline currently operates out of John F. Kennedy
International Airport.

Neeleman brought up the controversial second runway in speaking to
South Florida CEOs and top executives attending a regional meeting of
The Executive Committee, an international organization of CEOs.

The low-cost airline's success has stemmed partially from its ability
to turn around flights quickly. JetBlue maintains that Fort
Lauderdale's current runway is too short for modern airliners.

"We're not looking for a runway that goes out and messes with the
alligators," Neeleman said. An 8,000-foot runway is needed at a minimum
and a 9,000-foot runway would be better, the CEO said.

JetBlue is the fifth-largest carrier at the Fort Lauderdale airport
with more than 1 million passengers in 2002 and so far this year.

If a second runway isn't built, Jet Blue will have to rethink
additional growth at the airport, Neeleman said. "It will hurt the
economy here," he told the South Florida CEOs. "Don't allow a few timid
commissioners to allow this to stop."

The Broward County Commission has been deeply divided over the airport
expansion. A final report on three alternatives to a 9,000-foot runway
is scheduled for Nov. 17.

Broward County Administrator Roger Desjarlais said the question is not
whether there will be a second runway but its length and location. "The
board hasn't slowed down 10 minutes on its plans to build another
runway. ? I feel comfortable reassuring [Neeleman] and others that the
board is going to move forward with the building of another runway."

Commissioners are set to decide by mid-December whether to proceed with
plans for a second 9,000-foot runway on the airport's south side, or
pursue another option. Alternatives include a shorter southern runway,
a new runway next to the current one on the north side or a
reconfigured diagonal runway.

Critics say that the second runway would harm nearby neighborhoods,
parks and wetlands.

BL.
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