JetBlue latest in line to use LAX
JetBlue Airways Corp. has never been a big user of Los Angeles International Airport.
“Then out of the blue last month, the low-cost carrier stunned LAX officials by asking for gates there. Moreover, it wanted them in Terminal 6 next to Virgin America, the airline started by eccentric British billionaire Richard Branson,†says the LA Times.
It was no surprise to industry observers. Mr Branson is once again shaking up the industry with an airline that is offering low fares and unusual onboard amenities, says the newspaper.
The result at LAX is that competition there is getting more lively than ever.
LAX passengers flying to popular domestic destinations such as San Francisco and New York are getting some of the lowest fares in years despite record fuel prices.
“We’ve become a hotbed of competition,” said Paul Haney, the airport’s deputy executive director. “I don’t know if we could say that without Virgin America.”
Since Virgin America began flying out of LAX in August with fares as low as $44 one-way, competitors have been beefing up flights and lowering fares. The result is that even JetBlue has been prompted to enter the market.
Forest Hills, N.Y.-based JetBlue, which has had its part in shaking up the industry with discount fares since it started flying in 2000, said last month that it would begin serving LAX passengers with four daily flights to New York and Boston beginning in May.
The sudden flurry of choices for flights to some of the more popular destinations has been a boon for LAX consumers, who are seeing fares as much as half of what they had been used to paying.
Report by David Wilkening
David
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