doulasc From United States of America, joined Dec 2011, 348 posts, RR: 0 Posted (10 months 5 days 7 hours ago) and read 2017 times:
I am hearing that JetBlue did serve ATL for a short period. I looked in airchive.com and could not find a route map with
Atlanta on it. When and what routes did JetBlue have at ATL?
United1 From United States of America, joined Oct 2003, 5337 posts, RR: 8 Reply 2, posted (10 months 5 days 6 hours ago) and read 1991 times:
LGB/OAK to ATL....JFK was not connected amazingly. They were operating the flights around 2003 when I lived in ATL DL (and FL to an extent) simply drove them off the routes with added flights & matching fares....B6 was hopelessly outmatched on the routes.
B6JFKH81 From United States of America, joined Mar 2006, 2767 posts, RR: 7 Reply 8, posted (10 months 4 days 16 hours ago) and read 1300 times:
Quoting globalflyer (Reply 7): I never understood why JFK was never served from ATL?
Because both JFK and ATL are DL hubs and the competition would be beyond fierce leading B6 to hemorrhage money on the route? B6 was only 3 years old then and didn't have the pull to do it yet. ATL-LGB/OAK were B6's way of bringing people to the LA and the San Fran areas but not flying into LAX and SFO. DL and FL were flying ATL to LAX and SFO so B6 thought they could get into the market by going to LGB and OAK. FL and DL put up a really nasty battle...
"If you do not learn from history, you are doomed to repeat it"
USPIT10L From United States of America, joined Mar 2006, 3265 posts, RR: 8 Reply 9, posted (10 months 4 days 16 hours ago) and read 1245 times:
Quoting B6JFKH81 (Reply 8): Because both JFK and ATL are DL hubs and the competition would be beyond fierce leading B6 to hemorrhage money on the route? B6 was only 3 years old then and didn't have the pull to do it yet. ATL-LGB/OAK were B6's way of bringing people to the LA and the San Fran areas but not flying into LAX and SFO. DL and FL were flying ATL to LAX and SFO so B6 thought they could get into the market by going to LGB and OAK. FL and DL put up a really nasty battle...
DL was advertising their lift to the LA area, IIRC, they had 10x daily from ATL to LAX. I was waiting for DL to start ATLLGB to push B6 out, but B6 did it themselves. DL would've pulled ATLLGB right after that, however. Gotta love how airlines will bleed themselves dry to keep "competition" out.
0NEWAIR0 From United States of America, joined May 2007, 835 posts, RR: 0 Reply 10, posted (10 months 4 days 16 hours ago) and read 1227 times:
Quoting B6JFKH81 (Reply 8): Because both JFK and ATL are DL hubs and the competition would be beyond fierce leading B6 to hemorrhage money on the route?
This is exactly why they did not serve JFK-ATL in 2003.
Quoting globalflyer (Reply 7): I do know that B6 wants to return to ATL. My thoughts though would be a connection to BOS.
jetBlue may want to return to ATL but they will end up in the same position they did before. They will never see any profits from any route they try to serve from ATL. Delta, AirTran/SWA will see to that.
"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams."
richierich From United States of America, joined Nov 2000, 4022 posts, RR: 6 Reply 11, posted (10 months 4 days 15 hours ago) and read 1180 times:
Quoting USPIT10L (Reply 9): DL was advertising their lift to the LA area, IIRC, they had 10x daily from ATL to LAX. I was waiting for DL to start ATLLGB to push B6 out, but B6 did it themselves. DL would've pulled ATLLGB right after that, however. Gotta love how airlines will bleed themselves dry to keep "competition" out.
DL had the LA-ATL route pretty much to themselves in 2003, and the fares reflected the lack of competition on the route. B6 sneaks in with ATL-LGB and DL responds by throwing the kitchen sink at them, including almost doubling the flight frequency and upgauging equipment. Jetblue's fares were likely matched by DL in some cases, although I have no proof of this, and of course DL was always going to get the business customer back then. The only ace in the hole that B6 had was that they flew to LGB and not LAX, which is both a blessing and a curse depending on where in the LA area your travels take you. But that probably wasn't enough.
Then something somewhat unexpected happened - AirTran announced ATL-LAX service. This was a surprise to most people because FL were a B717 only airline at that time, and their new 737s were a couple of years away. They began this route, and a few others, using leased Airbus A320s from Ryan International (please correct me if I am wrong...) until their own new Boeings were delivered.
If it wasn't in trouble already, having a second LCC operate the LA-Atlanta market spelled the end for Jetblue. ATL was pared down to a LGB and OAK redeye but the writing was on the wall by this point. Both DL and FL could offer connections at ATL (and some onward connections from LAX for Delta) but for B6 this was all O&D.
I could be wrong but if (or when) B6 does return to ATL, things will be different. B6 is bigger now and while obviously DL will always be the dominant carrier at ATL, B6 is the largest carrier at BOS and will be able to match Delta's offering on the route. I guess it is too early to see what WN plans for ATL but I think that, in general, they will start to make Atlanta look like other large WN cities and less like a hub-and-spoke FL fortress. Should be interesting to see what happens!
srbmod From United States of America, joined Mar 2001, 16888 posts, RR: 51 Reply 12, posted (10 months 4 days 13 hours ago) and read 1044 times:
Quoting United1 (Reply 2): JFK was not connected amazingly.
Delta even went as far as to put Song a/c on the ATL-JFK route. Had B6 entered that route, it would have been a major bloodbath for B6.
B6 definitely hastened FL's westward expansion, as they started service to LAX, LAS, and SFO within months of B6 arriving in Atlanta. Sure it was contracted out to Ryan International, but the a/c were in FL colors so it got the FL name out in those markets.
B6's OAK-ATL service happened because they were getting a lot of OAK passengers connecting at LGB to/from ATL.
I think that B6 could make a return to Atlanta, but it still may be a few more years as they're probably waiting to see how the integration of FL into WN ends up as well as what happens within the industry in terms of mergers.
Sponsor Message: 
From United States of America, joined Dec 2011, 348 posts, 
Printer friendly format 
