Alaska Airlines will add several routes into Newark (Image: Alaska Air)
In domestic route news, Alaska will add several routes into Newark; JetSuite plans a new California Corridor route; Southwest has its eye on Long Beach-Las Vegas service; United and American grow at Memphis; and Frontier and Spirit expand their Florida presence.
Taking advantage of the FAA’s decision to open up more takeoff and landing slots at Newark Liberty International Airport this fall, Alaska Airlines said it plans to add new flights there from four West Coast cities. On November 10, Alaska will begin one daily roundtrip from Portland to Newark, followed on November 21 by a new daily flight from San Diego to Newark; neither of the eastbound flights will be red-eyes. Then in 2017, Alaska will add a daily flight from San Jose to Newark on March 12, along with a third daily Seattle-Newark roundtrip beginning May 14.
Alaska also said it will begin twice-weekly seasonal service between Portland and Sun Valley, Idaho, operating from December 17 to April 1 and again from June 14 to September 16, 2017, using a Horizon Air Q400 turboprop.
JetSuiteX will add another California Corridor route. (Image: JetSuite)
Earlier this year, a private jet operator called JetSuite launched a new service between Burbank and Concord, California (just east of San Francisco) called JetSuiteX, selling single seats on scheduled departures of 30-seat Embraer 135s. And now the company plans to add a new JetSuiteX route on August 15, linking Burbank and San Jose with 12 weekly roundtrips and introductory fares as low as $99.
Last month, Southwest Airlines added Long Beach, California to its route map, launching four daily roundtrips to Oakland. And now Southwest plans to add daily Long Beach-Las Vegas flights beginning September 18, with introductory fares starting at $39. But the Long Beach-Las Vegas service is only scheduled to continue through the end of December.
American and United are planning to increase capacity out of Memphis, according to the Memphis Business Journal. It said that on August 23, American will replace smaller regional jets and an MD-82 with 160-seat 737s for its two daily Memphis-Dallas/Ft. Worth flights; and on October 6, it will add a fourth daily weekday flight between Memphis and Washington Reagan National. On October 31, the publication reported, United plans to replace a CRJ-700 with a 166-seat 737 for one of its two daily Memphis-Denver flights. This month, American eclipsed Delta as Memphis’ largest carrier.
Spirit Airlines is expanding its Florida network. (Photo: Spirit)
Spirit Airlines will boost its presence at Orlando this fall, adding daily service to five cities, including Boston and Philadelphia starting October 7; Kansas City beginning November 10; and Niagara Falls and Plattsburgh, N.Y. as of November 17. Also on November 10, Spirit will kick off new daily non-stops from Baltimore/Washington to both Tampa and Fort Myers, Fla.
On October 30, Frontier Airlines is planning to launch daily roundtrips from San Diego to Orlando, as well as three weekly flights linking Orlando with Des Moines, Iowa. Meanwhile, Frontier will also trim its schedule at Pittsburgh at the end of October, discontinuing service to Atlanta and to Chicago O’Hare.
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Adding more gates reduces their incremental value: a tragedy of the commons if you will.
What Alaska wanted was to capture those gates without diminishing their incremental value.
Once upon a time, the gulf between San Jose and SFO wasn’t that big. Today though it is.
SFO is not gate constrained. If AS wanted gates at SFO, all they had to do was say so. No need to go buy VX for that. Any airline can get SFO gates whenever it wishes.
It’s temporary. Alaska flies the “nerd bird” between Seattle and the Bay Area to great success: and tech people will choose San Jose or SFO based on which one is easier. San Jose just have enough non-tech fliers to sustain many of these routes when Silicon Valley is in a slump. That’s why the Eskimo went so hard after Virgin–SFO gates are worth way more than San Jose ones with so much of the tech industry creeping north toward the City and away from downtown San Jose.
Where my mother was born 100 years ago. Never been to Omaha. John Lloyd Young, aka Frankie Valli and the four seasons whom I saw in concert on New Years eve at the Hotel Nikko, SF has some roots in Omaha, or college years in nearby towns in Iowa where he visits. What a voice !
now now now…..as Suzanne Pleshette once lead unsuspecting Bodega Bay kids……HA !
JetSuite at SJC, interesting. Wonder if they will use the private terminals on the west side of the field or at the Terminal where there are one or two lightly used gates. Also, Alaska Airlines from San Jose to Newark. United/Continental missed that opportunity for some reason. Continental did serve the SJC Newark route sometime before they merged with United with a daily flight. Alaska is now doubt building a hub at San Jose, and with the strong possibility of owning Virgin America and possibly continuing under that brand connecting to and from each carrier, SFO will be a large hub.
United also recently announced new service from SFO to OMA.