Airliners.net

Lately people have commented on JFK and that airport's future. I've heard that CO is seeking slots at JFK. Considering I can't imagine how they could do anymore significant expansion they can do at EWR, does anyone think CO will try and have a hub or a focus city at JFK? I mean they keep trying to position themselves as "New York's airline." I think that would be the next logical step for them. Still, AA will be hardpressed to rival CO's presence at EWR in the near future, even with the new JFK terminal. CO's building a new international terminal at EWR to supplement what they already have there. Any thoughts? I also think CO will have to open a new hub somewhere. They can only do so much more in EWR, IAH, and CLE.

Personally, I don't see CO at JFK. Not with the huge EWR hub already in place.
But, You're right about them building a new hub somewhere. But WHERE?
I think they dropped the ball in dismantling the DEN hub. But, given the DIA fiasco, and their financial position at the time, I guess it made sense. Perhaps they should buy out Frontier and get their hub back!
Wasn't the Frontier merger (via PEOPLExpress) how CO got the original Stapleton hub anyway?
How ironic would that be?

For the reasons you stated, dismantling the DEN hub was the right thing to do. However, stopping Denver-London was a mistake even without the hub. They continued that route for a few months after Stapleton closed too. I personally think COS should become a focus city. Lots of space now that Western Pacific is gone. I just think CO not having any transcon from JFK is a mistake since AA and UA have transcon from both EWR and JFK. But I think CO is actually trying to acquire JFK slots.

I think with the new 767s we will see many new things from Continental. A JFK expansion maybe but they have EWR. Transcon. from JFK to LAX with the 762 likely.

A hub in the west would be good for them too. Buying Frontier is very unlikely. Frontier is goin Airbus and CO flys to most of the places Frontier flys to. COS i could see being a focus-later-to-be-hub-city. But they dont really NEED a hub in the west but would be good for them.

I think CO does need something in the Rocky Mountain Region again someday. It's an area they removed themselves from. West Pac did well in COS. West Pac overexpanded and then moving the hub from COS to Denver was a colossal error. But CO needs to look into the future after they've maxed EWR,CLE and IAH. I hope they've started thinking that way. What will CO do if in NYC all they have is EWR while AA has a good presence at JFK TOO.

Today CO announced two daily non-stops between IAH-JFK, starting 1 August. The aircraft will the 737-500.

Colorado Springs as a hub? Come on now, it's a nice place to visit, but it's not a major metropolitan area (yes, I know it's an hour and a half away from Denver; it's just my personal opinion). Continental's philosophy has always been to build it's hubs to where ALOT of people want to go (especially business travelers). COS is a nice place to visit, or even to do some business, but it's not a place for a hub for a major airline such as CO.

However, I do agree CO should have a hub out west. CO right now has a stake in America West and a code-share agreement with Alaska. Maybe CO should buy/merge with one of these two, gaining either a hub at Phoenix/Las Vegas or Seattle/Portland respectively.

As for JFK, I certainly hope CO continues to expand it's presence there. Now that IAH-JFK routes are on-line, I'm sure we'll be seeing a CLE-JFK route soon, also.

I believe that CLE-JFK is already operated by COEX ERJ-145s.

CO is starting serving service to JFK in June from IAH, and back to IAH on a 737-700. They start with one flight daily and then they are going to add a second flight later on.

As an employee of CO, the new service between IAH/JFK is just a spoke into our IAH hub. It doesn't mean that were going to build a hub there. We have also announced new nonstop service twice daily between IAH/OAK. This is in addition to the new service already announced between IAH/ANC, and IAH/SMF. Other new routes to be started are CLE/AUS and several routes out of CLE with the ERJs.