With the departure of JetBlue, who could fly further from Long Beach Airport? • Long Beach Post

JetBlue's decision to forgo nearly a third of its flights at Long Beach Airport could have a significant effect on the future composition of local air transport, but first, other airlines will have to demonstrate interest in filling the void.

Even after rendering 10 of its slots, JetBlue will still have the largest presence at Long Beach Airport with 24 slots, but the move creates an opportunity for competitors to expand their presence in the city .

The slots allocated by JetBlue had already been awarded until September 2019 to other airlines for temporary use, as they were not used by JetBlue, but a process of the city awards them permanently to other airlines.

JetBlue is one of the largest tenants at the airport since arriving in 2001, when it made Long Beach its second target city. He has also had a presence in the community, sponsoring events such as the Long Beach Marathon. But it has also been in conflict with the city in a very public way in recent years.

Last year, the city council decided to put in place new rules regarding the use of slots at the airport, which brought the minimum annual use of the airport. a niche at 85%.

This vote reduced the minimum number of flights per year from 208 to 310 per slot and included a provision that would remove slots for airlines that do not meet these standards.

On JetBlue's objections, the city council adopts rules requiring airlines to use longer slots.

Earlier this month, the airline was informed that she did not meet these usage requirements and she informed the city on Tuesday night that she would give him 10 slots, some of which were temporary. .

Municipal leaders have expressed optimism that other airlines will want the newly opened slots.

"Although we are sad to see that JetBlue has reduced flights at Long Beach Airport, we are certain that the airport will maintain its demand as it consistently ranks among the best in the US" said city councilor Stacy Mungo, including the airport district. "We are confident that many airlines will seek to expand their services to Long Beach."

Pat West, director of the city, said in a statement Wednesday night that Hawaiian Airlines, Southwest Airlines and Delta Airlines had expressed interest in open slots. He said slots will be awarded during rounds where each airline will have the opportunity to claim a slot per round.

The selection sequence of the seven permanent slots includes the Hawaiian selection first and the Southwestern selection last, and the sequence of the three additional slots includes delta selection first and Hawaiian selection last.

Airlines will have the option of not selecting slots, so the way in which the remaining seven slots and the remaining slots will be allocated is unclear.

Hawaiian will for the first time be able to take advantage of its single slot allocation, but Southwest (six niches) could choose to continue to strengthen its presence, as it has done since the beginning of its service in Long Beach in June 2016.

It has received its initial four slots as part of an annual sound budget analysis process, in which the airport has the opportunity to create additional slots if the noise generated annually by the airport falls short of the budget. noise ordinance of the city.

Since then, Southwest has added two permanent slots and temporarily absorbed other unused slots, allowing its slot share to grow to double digits.

A fact sheet posted on his website indicated that Southwest would offer up to 15 departures a day from Long Beach as of March 2019. It currently serves Denver, Las Vegas, Oakland, Sacramento and San Jose. . However, many of them are temporary or extra and could disappear if JetBlue starts flying at a higher frequency.

The airport did not respond Wednesday to a question about the airlines that had communicated on recently released slots.

In a statement, Adam DeCaire, vice-president of network planning at Southwest, said the airline was working with the city to acquire more slots.

"Our customers immediately took our service from day one, and since then we have been working, using a semi-regular process, to use unused slots to provide additional flights and to respond to a request that we know exists to more services in Long Beach, California. preferred air carrier, "he said.

Airlines with smaller footprints in Long Beach like Delta could also benefit. The main center of Delta is in Atlanta and the American in Dallas. But he has expressed his interest in the past and may choose to replace some of his temporary slots with permanent slots.

In an analysis of its key markets, the Delta website lists LAX, Ontario, Santa Ana and Burbank. He does not list Long Beach. A request to Delta and American to clarify its intentions regarding future operations at Long Beach Airport has not been returned.

According to data from Delta, the company operates approximately 170 daily flights from LAX and last summer began investing nearly $ 2 billion in terminal upgrades. According to the company 's figures, American Airlines insures more than 200 daily flights departing from LAX and maintains a significant presence at the San Diego International Airport (31), John Wayne (18), and the US. Ontario International Airport (10).

It has three slots at Long Beach.

A spokesman for Delta said the airline remained "interested in acquiring additional slots at the Long Beach airport", without wishing to comment further.

American does not appear on the city's list of allocation orders because she did not know about temporary slots, but that does not stop her from doing so now that new niches have opened up.

The release of slots is a new chapter in the public quarrel between JetBlue and the city that took flight before and after the city council's decision to block the airline's request to build an international terminal in January 2017.

Since then, the city has taken a number of steps that, according to the airline, would constitute targeted attacks against its operations. JetBlue, a typical nocturnal curfew offender, saw the city double the basic fine for these violations, bringing it to $ 6,000 per offense in August 2017.

JetBlue will pay a higher lump sum penalty for night flights under a new decree on consent

JetBlue then announced that it was removing the service at Long Beach as part of its revised west coast flight plan in April 2018, which plan provided for increased service at Burbank and Toronto airports. # 39; Ontario.

In June 2018, the airline appealed a $ 96,000 fine for violation of the night, but she withdrew without any explanation. He accused the planes of delaying weather problems and the air traffic control towers of the other airports, which ordered planes not to take off, which Long Beach argued did not exempt the company to have landed its flights on time.

In November 2018, the city announced that it would soon apply a rule penalizing airlines not using flight slots every month, quarter and year, its floor being set at 85%, or about six flights per week by niche.

JetBlue described the move as "discriminatory" and Robert Land, the airline's vice-president of government affairs, called the vote "contrary to the city's claims" to be "an open and diverse city endowed with Business-friendly growth momentum ".

Land has not responded to several requests for comments on this story.

Slot allocation is expected to be determined by October, when airlines will begin to use the new slots acquired through the city process.

Jason Ruiz covers the Town Hall and the politics of the Long Beach Post. Reach him at [email protected] or @JasonRuiz__LB on Twitter.