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Should Charlotte encourage JetBlue to move its hub to Charlotte?

monsoon

By monsoon
in Charlotte

Should JetBlue move its hub from JFK to CLT?  

41 members have voted

  1. 1. Should Charlotte encourage JetBlue to move its hub to Charlotte?

    • No - not worth it
      13
    • Yes - good for the city and citizens
      28

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monsoon Gigalopolis

monsoon

Posted
Posted

Anybody watching the news this weekend or even worse having a ticket on a Jet Blue flight found out the airline was not flying this weekend. And then there was the incident were people were trapped inside planes for hours on the cold snowy tarmac, The problem was caused by the fact that JetBlue's primary hub is located at John F Kennedy airport in NYC which was affected by a terrible snowstorm that we almost never see here in Charlotte. Since Jet Blue has all its eggs in one basket so to speak, when that airport closes, then it closes the airline nationally as it did here in Charlotte where all Jet Blue flights were canceled. The timing was especially bad given that it was also a holiday weekend for many.

So the question is should the city use its resources to encourage Jet Blue to move its hub from JFK to Charlotte which is blessed with good weather, low costs, and central locatoin (on the east coast)?

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uptownliving Town

uptownliving

Posted
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jetBlue might establish a hub of sorts in CLT in the coming years but it would be an expansion of the airline not a closing of the hub at JFK. jetBlue is locked into JFK for the long term since they are building their own terminal there. To get out of that contract would basically bankrupt the airline. With days like the past 4 or 5 I'm sure jetBlue wishes their hub was in a place with better weather, but what JFK offers that CLT will never be able to match is the O&D traffic. Charlotte would have to offer the airline some huge incentives to move the hub here. We are talking hundreds of millions in addition to expanding our airport to be able to handle them. Personally I don't think its worth it at this time.

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charlotte49ersuptown Whistle-Stop

charlotte49ersuptown

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I have flown JetBlue before and believe it is a great airline. That being said, I think they are very happy being at JFK. They are building so much infrastructure at JFK that it would be pointless to abandon it. I could see Jet Blue offering more flights out of Charlotte to more than just JFK. Charlotte is a great place to set up a "southern hub" of sorts to florida and the deep south if they choose to expand that way. JetBlue is definetly in it for the long run, not like Independence, Southeastern, etc. JFK just gives the airline many more options than Charlotte-Douglas and that will never change.

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mallguy Town

mallguy

Posted
Posted

I think that encouraging B6 (Jet Blue) to set up a "focus city" in Charlotte might be a good move, but it working on getting the airline to move its hub from JFK to CLT probably wouldn't work. B6 was founded with significant support (not necessarily financial) from New York politicians, who thought it would be good to have a low-fare airline to help upstate New York's economy, then suffering from dominance by US Airways and its sky-high fares. B6 is an airline with deep ties to New York.

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atlrvr Metropolitan Area

atlrvr

Posted
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I always found it odd, their only other focus city is Boston.....both cities are fairly gegraphically isolated (though not from a population standpoint). I think a southern or more central hub would make lots of sense. There aren't many options out there. Nashville is gaining SWA flights. Perhaps Indy (though it is a focus for Airtran). The problem with Charlotte is that I think any airline would be hesitant to put a lot of capital into CLT because of the response from USAirways. US would lower prices to the way-beyond unprofitable level on every overlapping route, knowing that it has the resources to outlast JetBlue here. I am surprised however, that JetBlue hasn't offered Boston-Charlotte non-stop yet. They added Boston-Raleigh non-stop last fall, and I would think there are just as many business connections with CLT as with RDU. That route only is operated by USAirways, and I believe is a consistently full route with high fares.

All that said, I think CLT needs to worry about attracting Star Alliance partners to leverage USAirways existing hub, and to generate more international flights, than try to bring in a major competitor. Lower prices are nice, but non-stops attract corporate jobs and foreign trade.

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Delta_USAir Unincorporated Area

Delta_USAir

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ha ha ha, Another airline entering USairways turf?!?!?!?! where like it literally dominates.

Every airline that even tries to go to memphis will be stomped to the ground my North West{currently NW flies a few RJ's to denver but since Frontier added a flight they bumped it up to 3 A320's, and I think 1 A321}.

Same goes for any airline at Charlotte.

The politics in aviation tend to be very childish. Southwest, and Delta already learned the hardway by LCC.

Jetblue can not risk to compete for Charlotte. besides Jetblue does not need a hub, it does not fit there business model.

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kickazzz2000 Hamlet

kickazzz2000

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ha ha ha, Another airline entering USairways turf?!?!?!?! where like it literally dominates.

Every airline that even tries to go to memphis will be stomped to the ground my North West{currently NW flies a few RJ's to denver but since Frontier added a flight they bumped it up to 3 A320's, and I think 1 A321}.

Same goes for any airline at Charlotte.

The politics in aviation tend to be very childish. Southwest, and Delta already learned the hardway by LCC.

Jetblue can not risk to compete for Charlotte. besides Jetblue does not need a hub, it does not fit there business model.

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Delta_USAir Unincorporated Area

Delta_USAir

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JetBlue new hub { if you can call it a hub} is Boston. Jetblue plans to make Boston there biggest hub. No Charlotte hub. Theres no gates for them to expand.

There will never be a hub in N.C. the only "hubs" Jetblue will have is JFK,and soon to be Boston. { Boston being the biggest}. With focus cities in Fort Lauderdale,and Longbeach.

Maybe JetBlue should move a hub to Greensboro/Winston-Salem or Raleigh-Durham.
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Delta_USAir Unincorporated Area

Delta_USAir

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http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburgh...s/s_495910.html

If Jetblue can not handle US at Pittsburgh ... There is NO way Jetblue can handle US at Charlotte.

Legacy carries tend to be really hostile to LCC's.

Besides, one Boston flight is not all that bad.

US is also beating the Shiite out of Southwest in Providence.

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monsoon Gigalopolis

monsoon

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It would seem to me that USA needs to concentrate on providing basic service rather than using it's monopoly position in certain airports to put low airfare airlines out of business. Apparently their computer upgrade this weekend has been a complete failure and the airline is telling people, with paper strips no less haha, to go home and try to find another flight.

Thank goodness there is some JetBlue and AirTran presence in CLT so that flyers have a few alternatives.

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