Jetblue is delaying an announcement on whether it plans to fly from Westchester County Airport in White Plains. Jetblue and Airtran both serve nearby Stewart Airport in Newburgh, and Airtran inaugurated service from White Plains to Atlanta and its usual Floridean destinations last year.
The airport told executives at Jetblue as long as they begin flying by March 5, they wouldn’t be penalized for delaying their decision. As they consider serving White Plains, Airtran is expanding service to West Palm Beach and Atlanta, beginning this spring. With this, Airtran will offer eleven daily flights from White Plains to six nonstop destinations with connections to thirty-two additional ones. Nonstop service includes Atlanta, West Palm Beach, Ft. Lauderdale, Tampa, Orlando, and Ft. Myers.
Jetblue is likely to start service mirroring its offerings at Stewart…service to Ft. Lauderdale and Orlando, which mirrors some of Airtran’s offerings. Jetblue’s problem is that it doesn’t have a hub like Atlanta to direct passengers from either of these airports. Its hub at JFK is too close for passengers to fly to and connect. They are unlikely to try cross-country flights from either of these airports at their current traffic levels…although it would be a possibility for the future.
They could gamble on a flight to Dulles or Boston once a day using one of their Embraer 190s, and providing onward connections from there…but it seems unlikely. We look forward to seeing what they choose to try.