B6 to DL: "ATL is 25% Overpriced." We're coming to ATL Next Year...
JetBlue Airways plans to return to ATL.
The New York-based low-cost carrier has long been missing from the world’s busiest airport. But JetBlue last week sent a letter of interest to Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, saying it plans to renew service to Atlanta in September 2017.
The airline said it plans 16 daily flights as long as it can get access to two gates suitable for large aircraft “and higher end business and leisure travelers that JetBlue is targeting in the Atlanta market.” We believe that the Atlanta air market is currently overpriced and suffering from insufficient competition,” JetBlue vice president of network planning, Dave Clark, wrote in a letter to Hartsfield-Jackson interim general manager Roosevelt Council.
“For example, during 2015 customers traveling between Atlanta and metro New York paid fares 25 percent higher than JetBlue customers paid to fly non-stop between metro New York and Fort Lauderdale.”
The letter didn’t specify destinations. Hartsfield-Jackson spokesman Reese McCranie said JetBlue’s letter of intent “underscores our commitment to attracting new service to Atlanta and increasing competition.”
“We are always looking to expand and fly to the places people want to go,” JetBlue spokesman Philip Stewart said in a written statement, while adding that the airline has no specific decisions to announce on Atlanta at this time.
JetBlue has been the highest-ranked carrier in J.D. Power’s North American airline satisfaction study for 12 years in a row. The airport and airline have been in conversation for months.
