JetBlue, ABQ feeling the love
By Jessica Dyer / Journal Staff Writer
It’s now been a year since Albuquerque and Jet Blue first hooked up, and both parties are still feeling the love.
Airline and city officials are touting Jet Blue’s first foray into the market – a highly incentivized nonstop flight between Albuquerque and New York – as a success.
From its launch April 22, 2013, though the end of March, the daily nonstop flight between the Albuquerque International Sunport and New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport served a total of 69,271 passengers, according to Sunport data.
The route had its best month in July, carrying a total of 7,969 travelers for an average of 257 per day. It saw the lowest traffic in January, with 3,357 total travelers.
Jet Blue serves the flight with a 150-seat Airbus 320.
“We are pleased with the performance on the New York-Albuquerque route thus far,” Jet Blue spokeswoman Réal Hamilton-Romeo told the Journal via email.
Officials with the Sunport – which has supported the route with incentives valued at more than $800,000 – are even more effusive.
“I think they’ve absolutely been a success,” Sunport spokesman Dan Jiron said.
Having suffered several years of declining passenger traffic, the Sunport cut an aggressive deal to land Jet Blue, the facility’s first new major carrier since 2007. As part of a two-year arrangement, the Sunport waives Jet Blue’s landing fees and discounts baggage claim, ticket-counter usage and other fees by 75 percent.
Including a one-time, $200,000 expenditure to market the route – the Sunport’s only direct expense – the value of the incentive package reached $823,363 by March.
The Sunport has billed Jet Blue $315,318 during the same time stretch.
Jiron said the deal was worth it.
http://www.abqjournal.com/391499/biz...-the-love.html
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