Jetblue sounds more and more like a .....

Full Service Network carrier.

Eschewing its routes even further - JetBlue is continuing its inevitable march away from the LCC model to that of a FNC. Let me count the ways:

Aircraft - Jetblue uses aircraft from not even the same manufacturer, today it flies Embraer E-Series as well as the Airbus A320.

Airports - Jetblue mostly serves mainstream airports of its 54 served online cities very few are considered purely secondary airports (EG Long Beach). It serves most of the top 25 markets in the country with the exception of Dallas and Atlanta.

It participates in the GDS fully

Etc etc

And now add Fully Refundable fares. Here are the rules from the website.

"The fare rules for JetBlue Refundable Fares are as follows:
This is a refundable fare.
Reservations made with this fare may be changed or canceled for a refund up until the time of departure.
After departure, any unused funds will be converted to a JetBlue credit which is valid for future travel for up to one year from date of issuance.
Name changes are permitted.
All fares are subject to change until purchased. "

So Jetblue sounds very "un"LCC like. It joins AirTran and now Southwest in moving further away from the LCC model. Herb is not even off the board and things are not too promising over at Love Field.

Bottom line: JetBlue is NOT a pure LCC any more. While it has returned to profitability for the first time since 2005 it clearly has moved away from its roots. This move is not confined to the USA. In Europe we also see EasyJet behaving the same way.

What's left?

Higher fares and labour unrest.

Lets hope these dont happen any time soon

Cheers

Timothy

Ryanair posts big rise in 1/2 Year Profits

Sticking to the playbook. Well done the team over at FR.

The numbers of course are staggering. Well on the way to a 50 mil pax plus airline this year- the underlying numbers show some clear success in the strategy.

Revenues grew by 24% to €1.6bn (£1.1bn), which included ancillary revenues of €252m (£175.5m), up 54%. This meant that ancillaries accounted for 15.8% of total revenues, versus the airline’s target of 20%. This is the key to the long term success of FR. For a conventional airline this number is essentially zero as no additional revenues are booked in this manner. This only now shows how much this is worth and how successful Ryanair has been at pursuing the growth of the revenue base not based on RPMs/ASMs and CASMs.

We believe that leveraging the individual passenger as the core metric is the fundemental differentiator between the true LCC model and the legacy one. Any airline still clinging to their outdated metrics deserves to be shot.

Those of you who are regular readers - know am not a big fan of the Ryanair service but I totally buy into the model and am quite happy to put up with the poor service in exchange for a reliable timetable and a low price. This is the true credo.

Cheers

Timothy

AIr Asia X delays UK launch till Q4 2008

As reported in DowJones News Wires, KL-based AirAsia X, 20% owned by the Virgin Group, plans to start services to London or Manchester in Q408. The LCC’s chief executive, Azran Osman-Rani, told Dow Jones Newswires it would acquire 50 Airbus A350s or Boeing 787-10s to handle its ongoing expansion.

Those interim A330s are not all going to fly to the Gold Coast so where are they going? Howeve a big twin like A330 would have to stretch REALLY hard to make it to the UK.

Enquiring minds want to know.

Cheers

Timothy

Southwest returns to Worldspan after many years

Southwest will be returning to participation in Worldspan announced today as part of their ongoing campaign to court the business traveler.

However Worldspan even under Travelport ownership is not known as a major corporate agency system, nor do they have deep penetration among agencies in WN's key markets. So why?

Two reasons:

Reason 1 - Southwest needs all the bookings they can get - with Galileo and Worldspan under joint ownership (but NOT common platforms), Travelport made them an offer they couldnt refuse.

Reason 2 - Southwest needs a back door capability to reach the OTAs who are still using Worldspan.

It has been a long time coming. Now if only Southwest would announce something more meatier. We still dont have much clue to their long term strategy change.

And then there were ... 2? LCCs in Europe

GB Airways surprise capture by easyJet caught BA knapping. The big network king has suffered several defections over the last year. First there was BMED (founded by Lord Hesketh for those of you who are trivia buffs). Sold to BMI from under the noses of Willy and Co. Who promptly sold back BA's slots to them for more than the cost of the airline they bought. Go figure!

The news this week of Franchise partner GB Airways selling to easyJet was followed within a day or so by Loganair - one of the smallest of the franchises - who has also terminated their agreement.

The loser is clearly BA - but who is the winner. Some pundits are opining that this will raise the bar even higher for other LCCs. As we have said many times we believe that the market has fragmented and led to a new HVC - Hybrid Value Carrier model. Either network carriers coming down into the LCC type model or LCCs going up.

For the European market we see very few sticking to the purist (or purest) model. Ryanair for sure is one of them. However we believe that the others will morph into the HVC middle ground. Already we see many - even BA charging for value added services. We see consolidation of the kind of models that has united many brands in Germany under the Air Berlin management. (LTU, Condor, Germania, DBA etc). The dominance of the LCCs in different markets is clearly having effect. With BA pulling back still from Gatwick - easyJet's acquisition of GB Airways will bring a lot more slots and traffic to its new best friend hub at LGW. Interestingly this could also mean over time an opportunity for EZ to expand into a long haul model or at the very least a partnership with Virgin Atlantic.

Stay tuned folks this is going to be interesting. With Sir Michael Bishop soon to retire (he is getting quite old now) BMI cannot hope to remain independent for much longer. Let's just see how things work themselves out.

Cheers

Timothy

Virgin Blue introduces premium economy seats

Morphing of LCCs continue....

Our prediction that LCCs would continue to morph and many more would move up the food chain seems to be coming true. Today Virgin Blue announced they were introducing a seperate premium cabin. Heaven forbid they would desert their pagan (LCC) roots, but here it comes.

The first 3 rows of both 737-700s and -800s will be configured with convertible seats that can change from 3 abreast each side of the aircraft to just 2 with 34 inch pitch.

This follows on the heals of the successful promotion of the "Blue Zone" seats (front of the bus and the exit rows).

With a new website more premium lounges and a higher yield getting the notice of the analysts - Virgin Blue is moving more into the Hybrid Carrier.

Now if only they could do something about the float....

Trouble at Skybus already?

Its only been in operation for a few months but already they are monkeying around with the schedule.

Skybus has cancelled flights to San Diego and Bellingham in favor of new direct nonstops from Portsmouth Boston. Clearly they are sticking rigidly to the Rynair playbook... maybe....