JetBlue to Take on Southwest

JetBlue will be announcing today its service from Boston’s Logan Airport to Baltimore-Washington International Airport. The service will begin September 9th, and is the airline’s 32nd destination from Boston.

The service is interesting in light of Southwest‘s recent announcement of identical service, except in reverse. Southwest is flying from Boston, a new city for it, to its established BWI hub. JetBlue will be flying from Boston, its established hub to BWI, a new city for it. AirTran is also on the route.

So, is this about defending itself in Boston? Making entries into a new city? It is hard to say.

JetBlue’s current Washington area gateway is Washington -Dulles Airport. If its goal is merely to exploit the alternate market out of BWI, it might do well with connecting traffic to California, as well as other locations, and see if their brand can establish itself in BWI, where it can add routes that Southwest wouldn’t, for example Caribbean and South American routes.

We’re not 100% sure what they are thinking, but we’ll be watching. Five years ago, JetBlue tried to enter the Atlanta market with flights to Long Beach and after only a few months, withdrew, underestimating Delta and AirTran. But it is a different and stronger JetBlue today, and they are as aware of the lessons of their past as we are…we hope.

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• Southwest to Add Flights From Boston (nytimes.com)