JAX/JIA updates

[JaxJersey-licious]

Welp, so much for those new Avelo Airline flights coming to St. Augustine. Looks like those flights are heading to Orlando instead.

https://www.firstcoastnews.com/article/news/local/aviation-board-executive-director-of-airport-in-st-augustine/77-221a0ff9-39af-4492-a03d-cc1f0238d367

I would have loved for NE Florida Regional Airport to have gotten those flights. It's one of the fastest growing regions in the country with an established and increasingly popular tourism sector. The infrastructure is already in place. Most of the destinations were new to the area and wouldn't cannibalize existing JAX routes and there was promotionally money just sitting there to promote it from the failed attempts at gaining American Airline flights.

I get that fans of this thread would rather JAX got these flights instead, but let's say the subsidies were not enough to warrant the St. Augustine service long-term, they could just transfer all those flights or the flights with the most demand over the JAX just like what Frontier Airlines did when they got out of St. Augustine. Plus Concourse B in JAX would be closer to completion making it easier to take in more of those flights by that time.

Truly a blown opportunity. Whether that alone was enough to warrant a long-time airport director to lose his job is another thing. 

[SirJax]

UST is in a tough spot. If travelers in the southern catchment of UST’s potential market want want super cheap discount airfares to just about every conceivable destination they can drive to Sanford in under 90 minutes, while those in the north are really close to JAX.

[ProjectMaximus]

Welp, so much for those new Avelo Airline flights coming to St. Augustine. Looks like those flights are heading to Orlando instead.

That last line in the article was really poorly worded. UST may not get the service and Avelo indeed announced more flights to Orlando, but they didn't just "announce(d) this week that its new Florida city will be Orlando… not St. Augustine." They had previously announced flights to Orlando and have now added more.

[marcuscnelson]

Welp, so much for those new Avelo Airline flights coming to St. Augustine. Looks like those flights are heading to Orlando instead.

That last line in the article was really poorly worded. UST may not get the service and Avelo indeed announced more flights to Orlando, but they didn't just "announce(d) this week that its new Florida city will be Orlando… not St. Augustine." They had previously announced flights to Orlando and have now added more.

Avelo announced today that they're preparing to move on from St. Augustine (bolded for emphasis).

https://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/news/2023/03/16/avelo-airlines-not-close-to-deal-with-st-augustine.html?cx_testId=40&cx_testVariant=cx_28&cx_artPos=1#cxrecs_s

Although St. Johns County Airport Authority board members have expressed some amount of interest in having Avelo Airlines start commercial service, there's no imminent agreement, according to the airline.

In a statement released this week, Avelo said it is very interested in flying through Northeast Florida Regional Airport but said that the recent board decision not to accept a contract presented last month jeopardizes future business.

At the special Feb. 27 Airport Authority meeting, board members expressed concerns over an agreement negotiated by Executive Director Ed Wuellner, who had orchestrated agreements with other airlines in recent years.

They voted to have board member Dennis Clarke work with attorney Chad Roberts on reviewing the details of the deal.

But not much progress has been made, according to Avelo.

“Unfortunately, the airport’s Board of Directors rejected the previously agreed terms between Avelo and the airport," the airline's statement said. "Currently, we have not received a new proposal from the airport authority to review.

"As such, Avelo is preparing to move forward announcing other markets in St. Augustine’s place. However, Avelo remains interested in serving the St. Augustine community in the future and we are ready to evaluate the airport’s proposal when it is ready. To suggest we are close or have started negotiating again, is a stretch.”

Avelo had been ready to announce a total of nine flights per week between St. Augustine and the following destinations: New Haven, Connecticut; Wilmington, Delaware; and Raleigh/Durham, North Carolina.

Since declining to authorize the deal with Avelo, the Airport Authority relieved Wuellner of his duties. Wuellner, who has worked at the airport for almost three decades, has a contract that runs into June.

[ProjectMaximus]

Avelo was back in the news about a proposal for service at the St Aug airport, and then this came out. New service to Daytona Beach. If they are still seriously considering NEFRA then that’s gonna be a lot of destinations in close proximity

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid0HDYAHi5Dx3zsV434kgXSaAzq9snWQQU6CYaq3A6Vk6VJtJXofSmrKQjV9EZ1Po7vl&id=100044272337453&mibextid=qC1gEa

[ProjectMaximus]

And now Melbourne Airport as well.

https://www.wesh.com/article/avelo-airlines-flights-melbourne-airport/43532624

[Steve]

Things aren't going well at Breeze. They just announced they're suspending 26 routes after Labor Day, including:

JAX-LAX
JAX-ORF (Norfolk)
JAX-PIT
JAX-RDU
JAX-CMH (Columbus, OH)

Unfortunately, not surprised, especially about LAX. That is a REALLY tough one to make work. I think the challenge is no one is ever happy about the flight time and there's nowhere near enough demand for 2X Daily.

[Steve]

Interesting stuff here:

https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/news/2023/may/26/mark-vanloh-airport-growth-capital-projects-and-a-possible-london-flight/

 - He confirmed what the folks working in the Delta SkyClub mentioned about a new lounge for Delta here.
 - We're apparently the largest East Coast city without a London non-stop. Great if we can make it happen of course.
 - Seems like the FAA is holding up the Concourse B construction. I was wondering why they hadn't started yet. I knew they green lit the steel for it.

[Jagsdrew]

No doubt a London route would be big but I don't think a major carrier would pick that route up. Tough when Delta has daily flights out of Atlanta, American daily flights  out of Charlotte and Virgin, Bristish Airways, AirFrance and Norse daily flights out of Orlando. 

It would need to be a discount/niche airline. I would think Norse would be a good one for Jax.

[Jax_Developer]

No doubt a London route would be big but I don't think a major carrier would pick that route up. Tough when Delta has daily flights out of Atlanta, American daily flights  out of Charlotte and Virgin, Bristish Airways, AirFrance and Norse daily flights out of Orlando. 

It would need to be a discount/niche airline. I would think Norse would be a good one for Jax.

Could not echo this more. I bet there are several "viable" routes now. Being so close to large airports, with airlines that love hub & spoke, makes a point to point model for them out of JAX seem unlikely. Then it's a discount airline coming in, not only trying to establish a new route, but also trying to take away FF customers with some simple pleasures they have from status or a CC or whatever. Just makes it that much harder I feel like personally... Delta & AA love shuttling passengers from JAX.

[Jagsdrew]

Could not echo this more. I bet there are several "viable" routes now. Being so close to large airports, with airlines that love hub & spoke, makes a point to point model for them out of JAX seem unlikely. Then it's a discount airline coming in, not only trying to establish a new route, but also trying to take away FF customers with some simple pleasures they have from status or a CC or whatever. Just makes it that much harder I feel like personally... Delta & AA love shuttling passengers from JAX.

Also, if a London route is established from a lesser known carrier, expect to land at Gatwick.

[JAX_ASD]

American Airlines will fly nonstop to Phoenix starting on November 5, according to the airport. Service is on an A320.

[Steve]

^That's a nice get. PHX is a big west coast hub for AA.

I've been waiting for Delta to announce SLC, though with SLC still a construction mess that may be a factor.

[thelakelander]

^SLC? Outside to University of Utah and the Morman church, what else is out there that would keep that route alive?

[Steve]

^SLC? Outside to University of Utah and the Morman church, what else is out there that would keep that route alive?

Just people connecting, mainly. It's a big hub out west for Delta so it really helps for more mid-sized cities. For example, Delta doesn't have a nonstop from Boise to Atlanta, and with only 1-2 a day from Jacksonville to MSP and DTW, it means going from Jacksonville to Boise is a 2 stop trip.

Now I recognize there aren't many people going to Boise, but even for big cities that do have flights from Atlanta having Salt Lake City as an option is really nice.