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News
JetBlue To Begin LB-DC & DC-LB Daily Flights Starting Oct. 8 Airline refers to LB as its "L.A. base"
(July 9, 2001, 10:50 a.m.) -- In a development that could invite political support for increased use of LB Airport, JetBlue Airways has announced Washington DC will be its second destination from LB Airport, following New York City.
Referring to LB "our new L.A. base," JetBlue's daily LB Airport flights will effectively give politicians, lobbyists and business interests a high amenity, user friendly alternative to LAX starting October 8. JetBlue's NYC flights from LB are scheduled to begin August 29.
JetBlue announced its Washington DC flights with a sophisticated media strategy in which the news was apparently conveyed to the Washington Post and the LB Press-Telegram in advance. Both papers carried stories on it in their July 9 morning editions, the PT putting it on its front page.
Although LB politicians and business interests portrayed JetBlue's arrival as a local boon, JetBlue's Washington D.C. press release refers to LB as its "LA base," much as other airlines use Newark or Ontario.
In May, JetBlue announced plans to make LB Airport its west coast hub, taking all 27 then-available commercial flight slots (more than half the Airport's total commercial flight slots) after the LB City Council (without publicly mentioning JetBlue) amended LB's flight slot reservation ordinance to let firms hold slots for up to two ears before using them.
JetBlue boasts an environmentally and neighborhood friendly operation, operating a fleet of brand new Airbus A320 aircraft. Based on projected noise contours provided by JetBlue (and posted by LBReport.comA JetBlue press release posted on its web site says in pertinent part:
From Washington's Dulles International Airport, the airline will serve Long Beach, its new West Coast base, daily starting October 8, 2001. On the same day, JetBlue will inaugurate daily service from Washington/Dulles to Oakland, in the San Francisco Bay area, and add a third daily nonstop from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, the airline's home base, to Oakland.
"The new service from Washington is integral to our continued expansion of service to and from the West Coast," said David Neeleman, JetBlue's CEO. "The DC area will become our second destination served from Long Beach, our new LA base, following the start of service between JFK and Long Beach next month. And the new flights from Oakland to Washington and New York effectively double our service from Oakland."
Starting October 8, JetBlue will fly from "LA/Long Beach" to DC/Dulles, leaving LB daily at 10:40 a.m. and arriving in DC at 6:40 p.m.
It will also fly daily from DC/Dulles to "LA/Long Beach," leaving DC at 8:25 a.m. and arriving in LB at 10:50 a.m.
JetBlue is already slated to begin two daily round trips from JFK to Los Angeles' Long Beach Airport on August 29.
JetBlue, which says it has carried more than 2.5 million passengers since launching in February 2000, was voted the #2 domestic airline for comfort and service in the 2001 Zagat Airline Survey and recently received top ranking (A grade) in an online survey by PlanetFeedback.com.
JetBlue now operates 76 flights a day with a fleet of 14 "brand new, environmentally friendly Airbus A320 aircraft." It says it will take delivery of another seven new Airbus A320 aircraft this year.
JetBlue's planes are outfitted with "roomy all-leather seats, each equipped with LiveTV offering 24-channel satellite television. LiveTV is available free of charge to all JetBlue passengers."
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