Tag Archives: XFW. Finkenwerder

JetBlue discusses where else it will fly its new Airbus A321

JetBlue Airways (New York) has already announced its intention to operate the new Airbus A321 on trans-con routes starting in 2014. However where else will the airline operate this new larger aircraft? The airline discusses this decision making process in its BlueTales blog:

One of the most popular topics for customers and crew members alike is JetBlue’s network strategy. As an airline that continues to grow, even as other carriers are shrinking, it’s fun to try to guess which city we’ll fly to next – and even more fun to see a new “dot” appear our route map. Will it be a new international destination? Will it be my hometown? Will it really surprise me?

The Airbus A321 has been no exception and we’ve been flooded with inquiries about where our newest fleet type fly. We have already shared that the A321s configured with the Mint Experience will fly between JFK/LAX and JFK/SFO, so the only mystery remains with our all-core configuration. Dave Clark, our Director of Schedule Planning, has all the answers – but before we reveal them, he wanted to make sure we have a full understand of what the A321 means for him and his team from a network perspective.

Again, looking at the all-core A321, our new aircraft is host to 190 total seats. This compares with 150 seats on our Airbus A320s and 100 seats on our Embraer 190s. This means the A321 will afford Dave the opportunity to very easily add more seats to any existing departure simply by using our new, larger airplane. But he breaks it down even further for us:

Some markets demand a lot of frequency, meaning the number of departures per day. An example is Boston/Newark which often carriers a large number of business travelers who need a lot flexibility in their schedule. If their business meetings end a couple hours earlier than planned, for example, they want to have other flight options to jump onto. The same is true if their business meetings run late. In these markets, Customers want to always have a flight within reach.

On the other hand, there are some markets that a lot of people want to fly between but the frequency of flights is less important. New York/Orlando is a great example of this kind of market. Most customers traveling between New York and Orlando are doing so for leisure, so they are less concerned about when their flight leaves. Further, they are less likely to change their reservations.

Pop quiz: which one of these markets would be a good candidate for the new, all-core A321? The answer is New York/Orlando. Dave is able to add more seats to this market with the A321 without adding any new departures.

And the benefits go even further. Because JetBlue flies to the cities our customers want to fly to, we are often constrained by the number of flights we can operate each day. Airports only offer a limited number of “slots” to ensure air traffic flies at manageable levels. For Dave, slots constrain his ability to add new flights and “dots” on the route map when he wants to. But the A321 will help solve this.

Looking again at New York/Orlando, we fly an average of ten flights per day. But we don’t fly ten flights per day because our customers need ten flights per day – we do it because the demand calls for 1,500 seats. With the A321, Dave can substitute two A320 flights, for example, with A321s – flying the same number of seats but on eight fights a day instead of ten. This opens up two “slots” for Dave to use for new cities.

The following chart breaks all this down easily: