Posted on 06/08/2004 12:11:17 PM PDT by El Conservador
NEW YORK - JetBlue Airways Corp. said it plans to exercise options to buy 30 Airbus A320 aircraft. The discount carrier did not disclose financial terms when announcing the decision on Tuesday.
The move means JetBlue now has firm orders for 123 A320s and holds options on 50 more.
For now, the Forest Hills, N.Y.-based airline's fleet consists of 60 A320s. It expects to receive nine more this year and delivery of up to 17 a year until 2012.
The A320, a single-aisle aircraft that typically seats 150, is made by Airbus North America Holdings, a subsidiary of Airbus S.A.S. of France.
JetBlue also has ordered 100 Brazilian-built Embraer E190 aircraft and holds options for 100 more.
Deliveries of the Embraer jets, which typically seat 70 to 110 passengers, are scheduled to begin in the middle of 2005.
JetBlue said the additional 30 A320s would help it meet demand.
With the latest option, JetBlue said its total aircraft fleet could be as large as 233 by 2012.
JetBlue shares traded Tuesday afternoon at $28, up 4 cents, on the Nasdaq Stock Market.
Thanks to the ultra-juicy EU subsidied received, Airbus can give their planes basically at closeout prices.
The wonders of state intervention.
Waiting for the normal set to show up screaming Free Traitors!
3-2-1
I wish Jet Blue flew out of Phoenix!
Well their fleet is already an Airbus fleet, they run on such a low margin that they could not support two different types of plane. No surprise here.
The low fare guys are great if you want to go from big market to big market. But if you don't....
Contrast that with my most recent Delta experience, nine days ago. The plane left four hours late. Beautiful weather, no explanation given. I missed my connection at JFK and had to wait six hours for another flight home. Since I switched airlines the Delta rep just shrugged his shoulders and said "Sorry.".
Buy Boeing, dammit.
30 Airbus A320 aircraft
Do I hear?? - America is losing jobs to overseas!
I wonder why when America will buy everything from overseas.
I will assert though, that you can lay 90% of the blame square on the "modern" UNIONS
I fly JetBlue out of Syracuse, not a big market. They are flying to more and more cities all the time. I just wish they flew to Chicago.
Syracuse has an international airport. That's a big market :) The places I normally end up going, if I absolutley have to fly, ain't. Pity no-one's found a way to service small or rural areas with airline service, just puddlejumpers to/from big markets. No-one wants to do it. I can understand why, considering all the impediments governments and unions put in place. Sigh.
JetBlue buying more A320s is no more surprising than Southwest buying more 737s. They both basically just have one plane type in their fleet, and it saves on maintenance and training.
}:-)4
And by the way...Embraer of Brazil is building some pretty good products nowadays, and they're starting to move up from the regional market, as the 170 and 190 show. Airbus and Boeing better watch out or they might get outflanked.
}:-)4
We lucked out here at KBTV...with 4 A320s a day to KLGA.
My husband and I just took two separate flights on Jet Blue. Both left right on time and there were NO hassles. They had plenty of counter help and we zipped through security because it was the only flight in the terminal. The seats were comfortable and the bathrooms spotless. I swore that the flight attendants went in and regularly cleaned them. We flew into Long Beach CA and were out of the terminal in anout 15 minutes. We plan to fly them whenever we travel to the West Coast.
LOL. Nice to know we're in the big time. We're only international in that there are a few flights to Canada. Actually, prior to JetBlue coming here we could only take awful UsAir prop planes to NYC for something like $400 round trip. Now it's under 90 bucks for leather seats and Direct TV, not to mention outstanding on-time service. Once I was literally the only passenger on a USAir flight, yet the JetBlue flights are full and they are adding flights. The wonders of capitalism.
One way that JetBlue has reduced costs is by using less busy airports, with cheaper gate fees. Long Beach instead of LAX, Oakland instead of San Fransisco. People don't seem to mind this at all. It is also extremely easy to book online and they have a very simple frequent flyer program. An extremely well-run operation and a powerful argument against the government bailing out their inefficient competitors.
NYS's prices are horrific, anyway. But if you think Syracuse is bad, try flying from downstate Upstate. The fares are even worse. We routinely go to Syracuse or Rochester now, and that's a drive of around a couple of hours. Add that to getting to the airport early, or having to go to a different airport than the one you were scheduled to fly into 'cause you're flight's just been scratched, the parking fees, it's just not worth it to us to fly. We just cancelled a trip to FL because we don't have the time to drive, and after my last pain-in-butt trip a few weeks ago, I have no desire to get back on a plane again any time soon. I'd rather have a simultaneous root canal and IRS audit.
Yeah...they aren't unfortunately in Wichita.
I have heard they are really good......I think they don't give you snacks, but you do get your own tv etc. in your seat.
For a coach flight, I take that over crappy food. I will bring my own.
If food were the only complaint I had, it wouldn't be so bad. I even understand the security needs, which is why I'm more than happy to get to the airport early. Though getting see-lected for the extra special search every other time I go through a security checkpoint is really, really being to wear. But I've had more luggage lost, or I did when I still checked it, had flights cancelled/delayed/rerouted. And to be asked to pay through the nose for all of that, no thanks.
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