Interesting reading here. Sounds like the terminal discussion is a dead issue. Who is Wilcox? Did he leave B6 on good terms? Who's backing his deal?
All airport, all the time
By Felix Sanchez
Staff writer
It seemed like old times at Long Beach's Airport Advisory Commission meeting last week when former JetBlue Airways executive Alex Wilcoxstrolled in.
Wilcox was a prominent fixture during debate over Long Beach Airport terminal improvements and JetBlue's compliance with the tough noise ordinance.
But as Wilcox stressed to commissioners, he was there in a non-JetBlue capacity.
Wilcox is head of a new business venture, Smooth Flight Holdings Co., that has applied for 22 of the airport's 25 commuter flight slots.
Wilcox is still on the board of directors of Kingfisher Airlines in India he left JetBlue to become chief operating officer but has since resigned. His new venture will make its home in either Long Beach or Nevada .
Wilcox's business plan is still in development, but he told commissioners that the firm will initially use 19-seat turbo-prop planes to begin commuter service to still-undetermined markets. But soon the company, which will come up with a flashy brand name to run under, will fly Q-400 Bombardier passenger jets with capacity for 78 passengers.
Some of the cities he will fly to will be duplicates of ones now served by commercial jetliners here, bringing competition to the airport. "There's a huge untapped demand for the (short haul) market in Long Beach' and other cities where consumers are often stressed by long waits at major airports for relatively short flights, he said, adding that Las Vegas is a possible destination.
The slot application is now complete. But city officials will wait until Sept. 2 before formally authorizing the proposal. The city has notified other airlines and the regional commuter industry to see if there is any other interest in the slots.
Once authorized, Wilcox has 90 days to before the "conditional' slots must be converted over to final, permanent slots that must be covered with bonds.
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Then Smooth Flight will have six months to make them operational.
Wilcox had a final thing to say to commissioners. He no longer works for JetBlue, and he has no ulterior motive.
"There is no JetBlue conspiracy," he said. "This is not part of some plot."
At the same meeting, some commissioners got into a snit over a letter from Mayor Beverly O'Neill thanking them for their long, hard work on controversial terminal improvements — the commission labored for 15 meetings over nearly 1 years on plans — but also saying enough is enough.
In a July 15 letter, O'Neill told the commission it no longer needs to hold hearings onthe terminal issue, or make further recommendations to the council. "I'm a little disappointed," said commissioner Bob Luskin. "We put in a lot of time and effort."
Commissioner Bruce Alton said the board has unique perspective on the issue. But Alton also questioned why the commission, after all of its study, took what he said was "15 minutes' of debate before stamping its approval on the staff recommendation.
Alton voted against the bigger proposal.
If you have news for In Basket, drop a line to Press-Telegram business reporter Felix Sanchez. He can be reached by e-mail at
[email protected], or by phone at (562) 499-1297. Old-schoolers can fax him at (562) 499-1269.
[B]And....
Why do people always find it necessary to point out that there is no jetblue conspiracy? 