JetBlue, AA
partnership
Aim is connectivity
JetBlue Airways Corp. (NASDAQ:
JBLU) and American Airlines
Group Inc. (NASDAQ:
AAL) today announced a strategic
partnership that will create
seamless connectivity for travelers
in the Northeast and more
choice for customers across their
complementary domestic and
international networks. In addition,
the relationship will accelerate
each airline’s recovery
as the travel industry adapts
to new trends as a result of the
pandemic. New and expanded
routes: The partnership enables
new strategic growth opportunities
for both airlines. As a result,
American will launch international
service from New York
(JFK) to Tel Aviv (TLV) and to
Athens (ATH) and JFK to Rio
De Janeiro (GIG) will return as
a daily seasonal route in winter
2021, in addition to continuing to
serve popular long-haul destinations
like London (LHR) and Madrid
(MAD). JetBlue will also accelerate
its growth in key cities,
bringing its award-winning service
to more customers. JetBlue
will grow in greater New York
City, adding flights at LaGuardia
(LGA) and Newark (EWR),
while also increasing its presence
at JFK for seamless connections
to American’s expanded
international network. JetBlue
plans to enhance service to strategic
markets on the East Coast,
West Coast, and in the Southeast,
building on JetBlue’s recently
announced service between
EWR and nine markets, including
Mint® service to Los Angeles
(LAX) and San Francisco (SFO).
More choice and loyalty benefits:
Through their integrated
networks, JetBlue and American
will operate reciprocal codeshare
flights, giving customers
new options with improved
schedules, competitive fares and
nonstop access to more domestic
and international destinations.
JetBlue will gain connectivity
to more U.S. destinations,
a broad global network and an
improved frequent f lyer proposition,
while American will complement
JetBlue’s improved and
expanded service with new international
routes. JetBlue and
American loyalty members will
also enjoy new benefits while
18 AIRPORT VOICE, JULY 2020
the carriers are exploring additional
premium experiences for
customers.
Seamless experience: Customers
will enjoy a seamless experience
across both airlines,
including the ability to book a
single itinerary on either website,
convenient connections and
an improved on-the-ground experience
— resulting in a compelling
proposition for both leisure
and corporate customers.
Additionally, customers seeking
more comfort in transcontinental
service will have access to
both JetBlue’s Mint and American’s
three-class Transcon service.
“Pairing JetBlue’s domestic
network with American’s international
route map creates
a new competitive choice in the
Northeast, where customers are
longing for an alternative to the
dominant network carriers,”
said Joanna Geraghty, president
and chief operating officer, Jet-
Blue. “This partnership with
American is the next step in
our plan to accelerate our coronavirus
recovery, get our crewmembers
and our aircraft f lying
again, and fuel JetBlue’s growth
into the future.”
“This is an incredible opportunity
for both of our airlines,”
said American Airlines
President Robert Isom. “American
has a strong history in the
Northeast, and we’re proud to
partner with JetBlue as the latest
chapter in that long history.
Together, we can offer customers
an industry-leading product
in New York and Boston with
more flights and more seats to
more cities.”
JetBlue and American will
offer customers more options
on Transcon service from New
York to the West Coast. American’s
popular three-class service
on the Airbus A321T will
join JetBlue with its Mint premium
experience and thoughtful
core seating.
The premium experience will
also be expanded to the fleet.
American intends to operate
more dual-class regional aircraft
featuring first class beginning
next year, providing the
premium experience customers
in the Northeast prefer.
Breeze
spreads wings
Wheels-up 2020
Breeze Airways (Salt Lake City),
the new scheduled airline start-up
of David Neeleman, has filed with
the U.S. Department of Transportation
(DOT) to acquire the air operator
certificate (AOC) of disbanded
Compass Airlines.
The asset purchase agreement
includes the former regional operator’s
operating certificate. The deal
is subject to U.S. Transportation
Department (DOT) approval but
Neeleman is looking at starting in
a few months.
If the transaction is approved,
and this is not set in concrete,
Breeze plans to launch charter
service on Oct. 15 from Compass’
former base of operations in
Minneapolis-St Paul. The airline
would operate charter services for
roughly six months—three months
longer than originally envisioned—
before starting scheduled commercial
BREEZE flights in May 2021.
“By utilizing Compass’s manuals,
resources, and processes, FAA
certification will be completed
more efficiently and, accordingly,
the introduction of new service to
under served markets will be accelerated,”
Breeze argued in the filing.
“This in turn will result in the hiring
of aviation workers and a more
rapid recovery from the COVID-19
pandemic.”
To start operations, Breeze will
lease 15 Embraer 190 aircraft from
Nordic Aviation Capital. The first
new Airbus A220-300 aircraft will
be delayed until August 2021 because
of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The A220s will be used to launch
transcontinental routes. The
startup also has abandoned plans
to obtain Embraer E-Jets from Azul
Brazilian Airlines after striking
a better deal with Nordic Aviation
Capital, which is interesting since
Neeleman has a large stake in Azul.
The new airline plans to serve
15 under served destinations on the
East Coast, South, Texas and the
Midwest.
Breeze planned to run its network
of single aisle aircraft between
secondary markets like
Louisville, KY and Jacksonville,
FL without use of the hub and
spoke system that major carriers
use.Neeleman;s strategy is to use
smaller regional airports that are
not profitable for the legacy airlines
and yet would offer better service to
smaller market needs.
“Breeze has adjusted its plans
accordingly to both account for
shifts in demand and take advantage
of opportunities in response to
the COVID-19 pandemic,” the filing
says. “Instead of operating charter
services for three months before introducing
scheduled services in the
winter of 2020 as contemplated in
our February Application, Breeze
will initially operate charter services
for six months before entering
scheduled service in May of 2021.”
David Neeleman of Breeze, V for victory.