Charleston may be seeing JetBlue skies

JetBlue Airways Corp., the New York discount carrier famous for its in-seat TVs and one-way fares, may start service to Charleston as early as 2005.

Since it launched in February 2000, the company has become a Wall Street darling by flying 156-seat planes out of New York’s JFK to some of the country’s biggest airports. Now it has ordered 100, 100-seat jets to start service to smaller cities, especially airports in the Southeast that don’t host a discount carrier.

“There’s going to be a lot of opportunities for new service when we get the new planes, and Charleston is a good example of the type of market we’re looking to serve,” said spokesman Bryan Baldwin.

While the airline has yet to create a definite list of new destinations, JetBlue will start taking delivery of the new 100-seat Embraer 190s in August 2005, and service to Charleston could follow in short order. The carrier also has purchased options to buy 100 more of the aircraft from Embraer. JetBlue’s current fleet consists of 57 A320s, each of which has 156 seats. David Neeleman, chief executive officer of the carrier, hinted at new service to Charleston and Greenville when he spoke Wednesday at a conference in Los Angeles.

The airline currently serves 24 cities, having just expanded to Boston and Sacramento, Calif. It will start service to San Jose, Calif., in May and the Dominican Republic in June.

Meanwhile, AirTran Airways, which is sitting on more than $5 million in federal grants and travel pledges drummed up by the Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce, is focused on a different business model. The Orlando-based carrier has put a hold on most expansion for the year, and is now focusing on bigger markets, not regional markets, said spokeswoman Judy Graham-Weaver.

Featuring first-class cabins, AirTran has become increasingly intent on building its route-map around cities that have a high volume of business travelers. Most of the company’s fleet is 117-seat Boeing jets, and it ordered 100 Boeing 737s in July. AirTran will take delivery of one or two of the 146-seat planes a month starting in June.

“We actually feel like this is the perfect airplane for us and for the route structures that we want to put in place,” Graham-Weaver said.

Both JetBlue and AirTran may get beat to Lowcountry runways by Independence Air, a discount carrier that used to operate as a regional contractor under the moniker Atlantic Coast Airlines.

Independence plans to launch out of Washington’s Dulles airport in June and will formally announce its first 50 destinations in a few weeks. Charleston is on its list of 90 potential stops.

Mike Flack, executive director of the Columbia Metropolitan Airport, said this week that the startup will fly to the state capital.

Mary Graham, a Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce vice president who organized the effort to lure AirTran here, has been talking with Independence. Asked whether the airline was planning to fly to Charleston this summer, Graham said she couldn’t answer. Sam Hoerter, director of the Charleston County Aviation Authority, could not be reached for comment Friday. The $5 million in revenue-guarantees that the chamber gathered for AirTran can’t be transferred to another carrier. However, Graham said it has helped influence Independence.

“What that all did was help Independence see the need in this community and the hunger for discount service,” Graham said. “It worked like we wanted it to.”

JetBlue will be less aggressive about starting new service to cities that already have a discounter, but the carrier noted that most low-fare carriers would not fly direct from Charleston to New York.

If a low-fare airline does come to Charleston, incumbent carriers will likely match the cheap ticket prices on most of their routes.