BY DANIEL B. HONIGMAN, Medill News Service
Times of Northwest Indiana
Service by discount air carrier JetBlue Airways to Gary/Chicago International Airport will have to wait -- at least for a little while.
JetBlue announced Thursday it will offer five flights from Chicago's O'Hare International Airport to New York's Kennedy International and two to Long Beach, near Los Angeles, starting Jan. 4, 2007. It's the first discount carrier to fly out of O'Hare.
JetBlue had sought to offer eight flights a day, but in the end will be content with the seven landing slots it landed. Four of those were slots approved by the Federal Aviation Administration and three were obtained from other airlines.
The possibility of also serving Gary/Chicago, as well as other Midwestern airports, is still alive, the airline said.
The expansion to O'Hare came in the face of Tuesday's announcement that JetBlue lost $18 million in the nine months ended Sept. 30, causing the airline to state that it will slow, but not stop, its growth plans.
But that slowdown wasn't on the minds of JetBlue's CEO or Mayor Richard Daley as they held a press conference at O'Hare Thursday.
"I never thought we'd be here," said the CEO, David Neeleman. "I'm thrilled to be in Chicago."
Earlier this month, the Federal Aviation Administration granted approval for JetBlue to offer daily departures from O'Hare amid opposition from United Airlines, the airport's most prominent tenant. O'Hare is the latest of several new destinations offered to JetBlue customers this year.
O'Hare is now the 50th airport in JetBlue's network. But Megan McCarthy, a United spokeswoman, showed no concern about discount competition..
"As Chicago's hometown airline, we welcome the competition to O'Hare," she said.
Mary Frances Fagan, a spokeswoman for American Airlines, another prominent O'Hare tenant, offered a more pointed comment.
"It's another airline," Fagan said. "We compete with a lot of airlines."
Neeleman didn't rule out offering customers more Midwest destinations in the near future, either. While JetBlue flies to several major cities, including New York, Houston and Seattle, the Midwest still remains relatively untouched.
While he would offer no specific details on JetBlue's future expansion plans, he said the carrier is expected to fly to eight to 10 new destinations by next year.
"This is our first foray (in the Midwest) and there will be further flights here -- you can guarantee it," said Neeleman, the CEO. "There's a big hole in the route system."
Gary/Chicago International Airport had hoped to attract JetBlue, encouraged by the fact that Neeleman has visited the airport in the past and that the FAA only granted it an initial four landing slots at O'Hare.
Looking at it realistically, Thursday's announcement that JetBlue had obtained three more landing slots at O'Hare reduces Gary's chances of landing any JetBlue flights in the short run, according to Gary's airport director, Chris Curry.
But a rush of reservations for start-up airline SkyValue, which starts service at Gary on Dec. 15, has already raised his airport's profile, Curry said. The new airline has taken 1,800 reservations since its call center opened Tuesday.
"The news of SkyValue and their success has already grabbed other airlines' attention," Curry said.
"Darrell (SkyValue CEO Darrell Richardson) has had other airlines calling him and saying congratulations, that is why we're hopeful," Curry added.
Fagan of American Airlines disagreed with that assessment.
"Nobody wants to fly to Gary," she asserted. "If you look at (the two) and you're in New York, do you want to fly to Gary or do you want to fly to O'Hare?"
JetBlue reported Wednesday it lost $500,000, or nil per diluted share, in the third quarter ended Sept. 30, compared with a profit of $2.7 million, or 2 cents per diluted share in the same quarter last year.
The airline's operating revenues for the quarter were up nearly 39 percent to $628 million compared with $453 million in the same period last year.
In the nine months ended Sept. 30, despite the loss of $18 million or 11 cents per diluted share, which compared with a profit of $22 million or 13 cents per diluted share in the 2005 period, operating revenues rose 38 percent to $1.7 billion from $1.3 billion last year.
Kristin Korosec of Medill News Service and Keith Benman of The Times contributed to this report.