[budanski]

Head over to www.JetBlue.com (and then clicked on SpeakUp button at top of page) and let them know.

[cyborg]

I am not into this boycott France rubbish. Who cares? If it were my company and I thought Airbus was the best airplane for the lowest price for a discount flyer, I would buy airbus.

[need_a_screen_name]

Be American, buy America, Fly American!

[Arkinsaw]

Head over to www.JetBlue.com (and then clicked on SpeakUp button at top of page) and let them know.

Did it. Good for you.

[Incorrigible]

Heck, Boeing's not even sure it wants to be in the passenger airplane business so who can blame JetBlue?

[applemac_g4]

This is part of Jetblue's business plan - one type of jet. Southwest has 737's. Jetblue picked an Airbus variant long before all this stuff with France happened, and it's unlikely that they are going to change now.

Of course, that doesn't mean you shouldn't boycott them for using French products. I won't fly them.

[Rockpile]

I wonder if the Airbus brass are in love with Communist China like Boeing is?

[toupsie]

Hate to say it about a French product but I fly JetBlue as much as possible because of their jet. Those JetBlue Airbuses are the best planes I have ever ridden on. They are the best airline to fly in US. The only airline better is Singapore Airlines.

[kellynla]

Here is an email I received from Air France. "Thank you for your e-mail regarding our choice of the Airbus A320 aircraft.
Airbus is, in fact, not a French company. It is a European organization
owned by British, Spanish, French and German concerns. While the A320 is
assembled in France, Airbus also operates numerous manufacturing and
assembly plants throughout Europe and spends more money with suppliers
in the U.S. than in any other country. In 2002 alone, Airbus spent $5.5
billion in the U.S., supporting 120,000 American jobs at hundreds of
companies located across some 40 U.S. states.
As an airline that calls New York City home, we are very sensitive to
the patriotic measures and sacrifices of Americans in these difficult
times. We, like you, look forward to a time in the not too distant
future when the international cooperation that goes into building our
aircraft finds its way into world affairs."

Sincerely,

Tiffany
JetBlue Customer Commitment

I had canceled a free round trip ticket NYC/PARIS on the Concorde with Air France. Au revoir, France!

[RichardW]

I've written to them twice. We should do everthing possible to reverse this decision. If the shoe were on the other foot you can be sure they would do this to us. The French have been giving us the middle finger ever since WWII and deserve no quarter.

[green team 1999]

jetfranceblue bump

[kellynla]

I was trying to find the original email I wrote to Sky Blue expressing my dislike for their only doing business with Air Bus. I had told them that I could not in good conscience fly on an airplane made in France.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

Somebody had better take a look at France's landing gear engineering:

Large pic here.

Large pic here.

Large pic here

More pics here .

These are pics of the Airbus 340-600 that failed its RTO (Rejected Take-Off) Test badly. In an RTO test, the jet accelerates to near take-off speed, then has to slam on the brakes and stop before running out of an acceptable amount of runway. And, of course, the plane is supposed to do this without overheating the brakes, setting anything on fire, or damaging the plane's structure (all three of which happened here).

It's a real bummer when the fire department has to respond to your test, especially on a jet that is supposed to be the white knight that's going to save your company. The Wheels & Brakes engineers have some 'splainin' to do. There's also structural damage, so the Stress Analysis people are going to feel the heat, too. The Airbus landing gear engineers had better have asbestos asses going before the review board.

[_Jim]

JetBlue Snubs U.S. Aircraft Companies for the French

Let's see - BUY the type of aircraft we ALREADY HAVE and ARE FLYING or BUY ANOTHER BRAND and then pay REDUNDANT COSTS (like American) to service and TRAIN PERSONNEL on them ...

[bruinbirdman]

Airbus was established in 1970 as a European consortium of French, German and later, Spanish and U.K. companies, as it became clear that only by co-operating would European aircraft manufacturers be able to compete effectively with the U.S. giants. By overcoming national divides, sharing development costs, collaborating in the interests of a greater market share, and even agreeing a common set of measurements and a common language, Airbus changed the face of the business, and brought airlines, passengers and crews the benefits of real competition.

In 2001, thirty years after its creation, Airbus formally became a single integrated company, thus passing another major milestone in its history of achievements. The European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS), (resulting from the merger between Aerospatiale Matra SA of France, Daimler Chrysler Aerospace AG of Germany and Construcciones Aeronauticas SA of Spain), and BAE SYSTEMS of the UK, transferred all of their Airbus-related assets to the newly incorporated company and, in exchange, became shareholders in Airbus with 80 per cent and 20 per cent respectively of the new stock.

yitbos

[drjimmy]

One must always consider the source. The "former Capitol Hill staffer who helped write the FAA rules" and who is stirring up all this fuss is Carl Biersack, director of government affairs for the lobbying firm Barbour Griffith & Rogers. Lo and behold, one of that firm's clients is none other than Delta Airlines. Biersack gets paid to trash JetBlue, and all he had to do was mention Clinton's name for Newsmax to take the bait.

[gcruse]

Newsmax is plumbing the sewer and losing my respect at a fast clip. The decision to buy this aircraft was made way before this French thing. One reason JetBlue is able to offer low fares is by having only one type of aircraft to service. If they bought Boeing, their maintenance costs would go up. This is a business decision. Newsmax is being idiotic and anyone who boycotts JetBlue over this is no better than Newsmax.

[Axenolith]

We need to also kick Airbus' ass on the large airline project with a 1,000+ passenger WIG aircraft ;)

[RayChuang88]

This is where I LOUDLY disagree with NewsMax's views.

Let's consider the following:

1. JetBlue ordered the A320 in 1997, back when it was easier to get the A320 than the Boeing 737-800, the other airplane JetBlue was considering. Back in 1997 Boeing was literally swamped with orders for the Next-Generation 737, and Boeing could not spare production slots for what JetBlue wanted in terms of early deliveries.

2. The average A320 airliner contains nearly 40 percent of its components sourced from American aerospace firms, so it's impact on US balance of trade is a lot less than people think.

3. JetBlue wanted a plane that could easily meet current and future ICAO standards for jet engine noise and exhaust emissions levels. The IAE V2500 engines on the JetBlue A320's were ready to comply to these standards.

4. JetBlue liked the fact the wider fuselage of the A320 means wider seats and wider aisles for easier passenger loading/unloading and more comfortable seating.

5. JetBlue got a great sweetheart deal on the A320 airplanes from Airbus through a leasing company.

[green team 1999]

if Airbus planes are so good like the"french aircraft carrier",better stay away from airbus

[Captain Peter Blood]

The following comment was posted last week when this story about Jet Blue first came up. Boeing has not invested for the future and really has no cutting edge planes out there to compete with Airbus or otehr companies. Read on:

Airbus is not survivng, but flourishing.
Boeing is trying to compeate against modern Airbus jets that are less expensive and more economical to opperate than Boeing's reheated 1960's technology.

While Airbus has aggressively pursued a modern and innovative project line - Boeing is doing dick. They are talking about evaluating the possibility of exploring the possibility of launching replacement programs for the 737 of the 1960's and 757\767 of the 1970's.

Anything that would replace those dinosaurs is atleast 10 years away. In the meantime Airbus (and other rising jet makers) are blowing past Boeing.

The 777 is the only current Boeing jet that can stand on it's own merits against Airbus. All the rest are only sellable because so many airlines already have invested in those fleets.