But the spiraling economy has managed to stop new folks from trying.  We haven’t seen a new airline since Virgin America in 2007.  That they have yet to turn a profit, and have struggled to build a route network that was in their original plan (something tells me their recently announced flights to Cancun and Cabo were not in the original business plan) shows just how difficult it is even a well-funded new entrant to succeed.

So, I was thinking about whether this means there’s simply no opportunity or whether there are ways to succeed once the economy comes back.  So I turn to my readers — what model could a new airline succeed with in the US?  I’ll throw one out there:  Everyone rags on Spirit, but they’re profitable and they’ve managed to carve out a nice niche, even with some competition on Latin American routes from American out of Ft. Lauderdale.  One idea: could the same set up work out of Los Angeles?  With some feed coming from other West Coast cities, but primarily serving VFR-focused cities in Mexico (ie, not the major tourist destinations, which have plenty of service) and Central America?  With an extreme low cost model, with fares starting at $9, wouldn’t there be an enormous amount of demand for flights to San Salvador, Guatemala City and others out of Southern California?  Just a thought…I’m curious what others think…

That’s neither here nor there.  Airlines are actually required to post calorie counts now, but no fine kicks in until next year, which is when they’ll actually enact these changes.

Consumers, obviously, look at airfares in a completely different way than airlines do.  Consumers think airfares should be correlated with distance (until they start to think about the implications for this and then realize they don’t really want to go back to paying $2,500 for a flight to Tokyo because they like to pay $89 to fly from New York to Boston).  Airlines, though, care primarily (or only) about maximizing revenue.  I really brought this up because there’s an American Airlines exec quoted in the article who, I think, puts this in the best perspective:

He says, consider airfares to be like Coke — it costs a certain amount in the supermarket (say $1.29 for a 2 liter), but much more at the movies (say $3.29 for 24 ounces).  While that’s annoying, no one freaks out about the price discrepancy because people realize it’s simply different — you’re not just paying for syrup and carbonated water.  Consumers don’t really buy this argument with airfares, but airlines see the seat as a commodity and most of their actions are based on maximizing revenue, not making sure consumers are happy with airfare pricing strategies.  The Coke analogy was as good as any I’ve heard…

Funny thing on Saudi Arabian Airlines’ website:  On their route map, they have Frankfort, Kentucky, listed as a destination.  I’m certain they mean Frankfurt, Germany.  But the idea that they fly from Jeddah to a small midwestern city without an airport is amusing.  Also amusing is that they’ve placed it on the map somewhere in the center of Oklahoma.

I can’t tell whether the child was slapped (not good), or spanked (not good, but God knows the police would’ve stopped almost every vacation my siblings and I went on growing up)…(note to my father:  I’m sure I deserved it.  But it was Danny’s fault.)

(thanks, Dlux!)

Version 1:  Same idea as last year’s pass – fly all you want anywhere in the network (plus international taxes) for $699 ($100 more than last year).

Version 2:  5-day a week pass allowing you to fly anywhere, except on Fridays and Sundays for $499 for the month ($100 less than last year).

As with last year, this sounds like an amazing deal but really think about how much flying you’re going to do, and DEFINITELY factor in international taxes, which are not included.  This is a very cheap time of year to fly (r/t tix from New York to Costa Rica on JetBlue are about $260 before taxes, for example), so definitely plan your travel carefully before purchasing the pass.

Although JetBlue got much of its early credit for live television, its early success really rested on its ability to hire consistently great frontline talent.  The airline famous grew its ranks from outside the airline world, focusing instead on people they felt could consistently provide a great customer experience.  That’s how they differentiated themselves (let’s not fool ourselves, either, they also competed on price, driving down fares on the transcon market, and fighting a brutal battle with American on many of those routes).  As they grew, though, they faced the same growing pains felt by every business as it tries to scale:  how to you continue to consistently hire (and train) people in the same manner as a company with 100 planes as you did when you had 10.  Answer:  nobody knows yet.

When your key differentiator is people, there are legitimate questions as to whether that’s a scalable model.  Sure, they offered Live television, but soon others did, too (although the author of the AdAge article says he can’t understand why every airline does not have Live television at every seat, the answer is that in a commodity business, there is no reason to add cost when there is no revenue tied to it.  Free television brings is an ROI negative decision at this point).

An agency guy in the article says, ‘JetBlue was different once, but not anymore,” but that’s not really true.  They certainly do provide a better experience, if only because of legroom and television and some nebulous style points, but Virgin America has decided to compete on the same thing (minus the legroom).  And they have quickly learned that they gain little-to-no revenue bump by offering all the in-seat bells and whistles.

Though JetBlue is hardly the phenomenon it once was, it has become something more sustainable:  a very well-run airline.  Sure, in-flight TV and snacks are the fun parts to chat about, but JetBlue succeeds today because of smart route planning, a cost structure that (for now) allows them to turn a profit at lower fares than competitors, and a brave & intelligent choice to purchase the Embraers for thinner/shorter routes.  It’s not that sexy, but if that were easy to pull off, everyone would’ve done it.