A new low-cost airline will start service from Newark N.J. and Florida, flying to mid-sized U.S. cities not served by larger carriers. JetAmerica is targeting small and midsize cities like Lansing, which has seen the number of daily flights at its LAN, Airport fall from 35 to 12 the past five years. Capacity has been cut by many airlines so the result is that airfares have increased at those airports as daily flights have decreased.
JetAmerica CEO, John Weikle, lost me when he said that he, "has based JetAmericas business model on RyanAirs!" See my February posting explaining that it will cost me alot if they install, “a coin slot on the toilet door”? ”- http://tinyurl.com/cu97b4 and my posting on how Easy Jet wants Pilots to pay for coffee http://tinyurl.com/dhezya
An EasyJet UK Airline Pilot mentioned that a flight from London, LGW-SSH, ran out of crew water & food. He said that the crew, “would get better treatment in prison”. European aviation has hit an all time low . One Pilot suggested that,”You might want to bring along some coffee to keep your Captain awake” This cry started a Facebook group called, “Feed the Crew”
Sure, the tickets are cheap, but when you add all the “ancillary revenue fees”, the tickets can end up more expensive than flying a full service airline. To break even, JetAmerica will have to make 71 dollars per passenger on average, so they even charge a “convenience fee” for booking on their website or by phone. No charge for the ticket booth at the airport but you have to book early to get one of the 9 seats for $9 on each flight.
The $9 airline is getting ready to take off on July 13th. As I mentioned in my previous post, : the promotions become tiresome. In this economy, some people are , ditching the loyalty programs and going for the cheapest flights, due to problems with Mileage accounts like David Berlind had. USAir told him that his last 15+ years of frequent flyer data was lost. Vanished! The USAirways Rep said: "I understand Mr. Berlind that you're reading your Dividend Miles number off one of our cards, but we have no record of that number anymore".
I wonder why these guys think they could be successful where many have failed and only a handful have succeeded. The only possible reason is they think they can make a quick buck, especially now that fuel price has dropped from its all time high. They don't really know the cost of running an airline and the tremendous lost one must incur initially just to become profitable later on in time. Right now, even the legacy carriers have dropped their fares in order to keep the airline running in hopes that when things start picking up, they will continue to have the same passenger and load factors needed in order to stay competitive and profitable. Not everyone can run a LCC like SW and Jetblue, who incidentally have both posted losses this last quarter, jetBlue sold about a 19% stake to Luftansa, which has kept them alive in these trying tims. Although the loss incurred have not been as high as the legacy carriers, who incidentaly have relied on Business Class passengers and international passengers to bring in the bulk of their profit. With the economy in turmoil, its hard to fathom why they would choose this time and place to do it. Both New York Air and People Express did it back in the 80s and were initially successful, but because they had the backing of big investments. But once the losses started to mount, they soon realized that it was not feasible charging $19 fares from Newark to Florida. But, just like the 200 other airlines that have come and gone since deregulations, these new start up LCC will realize that the airline industry is not a cash pool as initially perceived. By the way, most of the traffic from NY to FL is based on folks who are using their frequent flier miles and unless these new carriers have these programs set up, they too will eventually perish unless they can provide something the other carriers cannot. Why Lansing? Michigan is probably the hardest hit state during this economic crisis we have fallen in to, so it baffles me as to why they would want to target this market, unless they plan on being the exodus carrier for the folks who have lost their jobs in Michigan and hoping for a new start in Florida. Good luck.
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Dubai will also have a new carrier will be the sixth in the region that is low-cost ... 10 Jun '09 Emirates sees moderate profits despite downturn
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