Maybe it was the VP or the network guy, I thought it was two new bases this year. Maybe when the next TH comes up they will take that question, or not. Was it the VP in a TH who said PHL was going to be announced, and then covid happened?


With AB saying they can't deliver on time and getting criticized by the leasing companies for late deliveries, see what network planning comes up with now that all 33 planned new deliveries for this year likely won't happen.

Um, nearly every US airline. And JB already has an LAX base, so the combined airline will have one anyway.

Correct, but those are existing, some for decades. We are talking about a ULCC with no current footprint in CA. Just let JB deal with it post-merger and continue to expand LAS?

I can’t imagine any new base will be done without Robin giving his blessing over it. So a LAX base seems like a likely base

I'm all for more bases out west, RNO, SLC, SEA, PHX, etc. From an economic value, is growing LAS not the ULCC path and avoiding the high costs that direct employees bring by opening a base, beyond the contract employees?

I don’t think Ted or/and Bendo have any interest in this continuing as an ULCC. They are putting all their eggs in the “this goes through” basket. It’s not a mystery why our management has been completely absent from everything and anything, and that’s saying a lot consider that have always been out of touch. But it’s clear they aren’t building this for the future, they are spending JBLUs money and taking their directions.

At a quarter million people, RNO isn’t exactly huge. SLC might make sense with their new terminal but they aren’t a huge population service area either (~225k) . SEA is big enough but AK and DL are kind of monopolizing the terminal space. PDX (service area population ~2 million) has recently expanded their gates, PHX has a service area of ~4million (and growing) so certainly a possibility.

Indeed, realistically I imagine the only possible new base west of Denver itself, is LAX. DEN, LAS, and LAX could cover all west of the Rockies.

SLC also would work very well. I believe the actual size of the market is much larger than what Xcargo presented, plus it has a significant tourism bonus in terms of passengers. And mostly concentrated with one legacy.

Mmm…
PHX would have substantial Mexico/Central or South America traffic. Could you cover it out of LAX or LAS? Sure, but it might be more cost effective to have a base there.