To make it just a bit more interesting:
Logan to be a home base for JetBlue
Move could create jobs and improve reliability of service
By Peter J. Howe, Globe Staff | March 24, 2006
JetBlue Airways Corp., the fastest-growing airline at Logan International Airport, is expected to outline plans today to turn Boston into its fourth base for pilots and flight attendants, a move that could create dozens of new jobs at Logan and improve service reliability for passengers here.
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Beginning in June, JetBlue will use Logan as a home base for about 130 flight crew members, including as many as 80 pilots who fly its 156-seat Airbus A320 jets.
By fall, JetBlue also expects to have about 60 pilots for its 100-seat
Embraer E190 planes based in Boston, company officials said.
JetBlue's chief executive, David Neeleman, is set to offer details today in a speech at the Boston Globe Travel Show at the World Trade Center, JetBlue spokeswoman Jenny Dervin said.
Besides the promise of more Boston-based jobs, JetBlue's plans could help the airline offer somewhat more reliable service in Boston, especially when weather and traffic disrupt flight schedules. Instead of having to wait for a crew to come from one of the airline's three existing operating bases -- New York, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and Long Beach, Calif. -- to operate a flight from Logan, JetBlue by summer will have a cadre of pilots and flight crews based in the city who could be called in to get flights back on schedule.
Some JetBlue workers who now live near Boston but commute to work from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York will be able to work out of Logan instead.
''It's good for the regional economy, because it puts the jobs here and bases them in the city, and it's a good thing for Logan customers, too," said Thomas J. Kinton Jr. aviation director for the Massachusetts Port Authority, which runs Logan. ''It's a pool of employees that are readily available to draw from, which helps" when flights are being rescheduled, he said.
JetBlue will be the fourth airline to have pilots based in Boston, Kinton said. American Airlines,
Delta Air Lines, and US Airways, the three biggest carriers by passenger volume at Logan, have pilots and flight attendants based in Boston. United Airlines has flight attendants, but not pilots, based in the city.
JetBlue's decision also reflects its rapid growth in Boston and its commitment to grow here. The airline currently flies nonstop from Boston to 15 US cities and plans to add direct service to Richmond, Va., April 6; Phoenix May 3; and Buffalo and Pittsburgh June 30.
JetBlue offers 45 daily nonstop flights from Logan, including as many as 10 to JFK, six to Dulles International Airport outside Washington, D.C., and five to Orlando.
''We are certainly planning on growing jobs in Boston," Dervin said.
Despite running a net loss of $42 million in the fourth quarter of last year because of soaring jet fuel prices -- the airline's first loss since its 2000 founding -- Dervin said JetBlue remains on track to hire new crew members at the rate of eight to 10 every day this year.
JetBlue, which moved into the Logan Terminal C space vacated by Delta last year, when Delta moved to its $500 million Terminal A, has signed a deal with Massport to take over 11 gates in Terminal C by November 2008. It uses seven already.
''Making Boston a JetBlue crew base really speaks to our commitment to serve Boston," Dervin said.
Unlike most other US airports, especially hubs, where one or two airlines dominate, no single airline at Logan consistently controls more than about 20 to 22 percent of the market, Massport data show.
''Boston is a fair playing field for airlines," Dervin said. ''No airline can claim Boston as a hometown, so everyone has to fight for the right to serve customers."
Peter J. Howe can be reached at [email protected].
© Copyright 2006 Globe Newspaper Company.
