Posted on 03/19/2008 1:57:18 PM PDT by FoxInSocks
NEW YORK (AP) - The head of JetBlue Airways Corp. said Tuesday the low-cost carrier expects to boost its noncore revenue by 60 percent this year, in part by charging passengers extra for more legroom.
"What we want ... is the ability to upsell," Chief Executive David Barger said.
Speaking at an investment conference in New York, Barger said "demand is solid across the JetBlue network," and he assured analysts the carrier is "in the middle of a momentum story," in spite of industrywide worries of a slumping economy and sharply rising fuel prices.
Like a number of its competitors, JetBlue's share price was pummeled in recent weeks as crude oil prices surged to all-time highs. Tough competition has made it difficult for domestic airlines to raise fares fast enough to keep pace with rising fuel costs, leaving carriers scrambling to find additional cost savings and new sources of revenue.
Delta Air Lines Inc. earlier in the day announced plans to shed 2,000 frontline, administrative and management jobs through voluntary severance payouts and other initiatives.
Barger said JetBlue, based in Forest Hills, N.Y., soon expects to roll out a program called "even more legroom" that will offer passengers in the first few rows and emergency exit seats of its larger aircraft additional space for an added fee. A spokeswoman declined to provide details of the plan, but Barger made it clear the single-class carrier is not planning to start offering business-class service.
"We're not going to a two-cabin airplane," he said.
A recent deal the carrier's LiveTV subsidiary struck to operate its in-flight entertainment system on new Continental Airlines Inc. aircraft should also help boost JetBlue's ancillary revenue numbers, Barger said.
Last year, JetBlue reported $2.84 billion in sales as it posted its first full-year profit in three years. Nonpassenger revenue accounted for $206 million of the total.
Barger also said the company expects to sell four more of its older A320 planes, bringing to nine the total heading out the door this year. JetBlue expects to take delivery of 12 new A320s and six smaller Embraer 190 aircraft in 2008.
Barger offered few details about efforts to bring the airline closer to German carrier Lufthansa AG, which took a 19 percent stake in JetBlue in January. Teams on both sides of the Atlantic are working to develop commercial and supply-chain partnerships, he said.
I can see the ad ... Now, pay extra for fewer blood clots!!
I can imagine a demand for that.
First-Class Lite?
Yeah, right. How much exactly? I note they don't specify.
Next, to make more money, they’ll charge their passengers for the air they breathe. And after that it will cost $1 to use the rest room.
Dang it! We liked JetBlue because the first 9 rows of seats have extra legroom, and you could book online any seat you wanted. They all cost the same. Or used to.
Hey, Jet-Blue, as a short-legged person, how about more bu## room?
AA and UA are already doing this.
Do they actually provide enough extra legroom to get your knees out from under your chin?
NWA tries to get an extra $20 out of you for an exit row or bulkhead.
This is exactly what British Airways does on its international flights, plus a bit more. Its two lowest service classes are “World Traveler” and “World Traveler Plus.” World Traveler offers a 17.5” wide seat with a 31” pitch and a maximum recline angle of 5%. World Traveler Plus, OTHO, offers 18.5” wide seats with a 38” pitch and a 7% recline, putting it somewhere between an or-diary domestic coach seat and a first class seat on U.S. domestic airlines. I’m flying to London in about 7 days and paid a premium of $150 each way for World Traveler Plus.
GMTA
I think it’s $30 on both UA and AA.
I guess Soros needs the money.
Or get the JetBlue Special: for $100 they’ll amputate both your legs above the knee so you can be comfortable in any seat.
“Next, to make more money, they’ll charge their passengers for the air they breathe.”
IIRC, they used to recycle the cabin air every six minutes. After smoking was banned, they recycled the air every twelve minutes.
Can’t wait to see what happens the first time somebody buys an emergency-exit-row seat who isn’t physically capable of handling the responsibility...and there’s nowhere else on the plane to put them.
}:-)4
The fact that United and others are now charging for checked-in luggage is ridiculous.
Yep......the possibilities are limitless as are some airlines’ capacity to nickel and dime their customers. The funny thing is that, when fuel prices go down and the economy is on an upswing, the excess fees are seldom rolled back.
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