-- Service from LaGuardia to Begin by Late Summer --
NEW YORK, March 25, 2004 (PRIMEZONE) -- JetBlue Airways (Nasdaq:JBLU), New York's low-fare carrier, is expanding service again from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport in time for the busy summer travel season with 35% more flights than last summer.
JetBlue will add a second daily flight to New Orleans, LA on April 22. Also, on May 4, the airline will add a second daily flight to Denver, CO, a fifth daily service to Rochester, and sixth and seventh daily Buffalo flights. All flights are operated with 156-seat Airbus A320 aircraft.
"After serving Denver for three years, we're pleased to add daytime service to New York to complement our current red-eye flights to both JFK and Boston," said David Neeleman, JetBlue's Chairman and CEO. "Additional flights between New York and New Orleans, Rochester and Buffalo will also increase our customers' summer travel options this year, especially with our plans for new Caribbean service to Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic (see Note B)."
The low-fare carrier previously announced that it had intended to begin operations from New York's LaGuardia Airport in the spring. In working with its business partners at the Federal Aviation Administration and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to resolve facilities issues, JetBlue now intends to initiate this service by late summer.
JetBlue is a low-fare, low-cost passenger airline, which provides high-quality customer service. JetBlue operates a fleet of 57 new Airbus A320 aircraft and plans to add another 12 A320s to its fleet in 2004. The airline has 100 EMBRAER 190 aircraft on order with options for an additional 100 with deliveries scheduled to begin in mid-2005. All JetBlue aircraft feature roomy all-leather seats each equipped with free live satellite television, offering up to 24 channels of DIRECTV(r) Programming at every seat.(see Note A)
Based at New York City's John F. Kennedy International Airport, JetBlue currently operates 238 flights a day and serves 23 destinations in 11 states and Puerto Rico. JetBlue plans to commence new service between Boston, MA and Oakland, CA, and between Washington, D.C. and Sacramento, CA on May 4, between JFK and Aguadilla, Puerto Rico on May 27, and between JFK and San Jose, CA, on June 10. The carrier also expects to launch service between JFK and the Dominican Republic with twice daily service to Santiago planned for June 10 and daily service to Santo Domingo on June 17 (see Note B).
With JetBlue, all seats are assigned, all travel is ticketless, all fares are one-way, and a Saturday night stay is never required. For more information, schedules and fares, please visit www.jetblue.com or call JetBlue reservations at 1-800-JETBLUE (538-2583), 1-888 538-2583 if calling from Puerto Rico, or 1-801 365-2350 if calling from the Dominican Republic. This press release, as well as past press releases, can be found on www.jetblue.com.
NOTE A: DIRECTV(r) service is not available on flights between New York City and Puerto Rico or the Dominican Republic.
NOTE B: This service is subject to receipt of government operating authority.
This press release contains statements of a forward-looking nature which represent our management's beliefs and assumptions concerning future events. Forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions and are based on information currently available to us. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed in the forward looking statements due to many factors, including without limitation, our extremely competitive industry, our ability to implement our growth strategy including the integration of the EMBRAER 190 aircraft into our operations, our significant fixed obligations and our reliance on high daily aircraft utilization, increases in maintenance costs, fuel prices and interest rates, our dependence on the New York market, seasonal fluctuations in our operating results, our reliance on sole suppliers, government regulation, the loss of key personnel and potential problems with our workforce, the potential liability associated with the handling of our customer data and future acts of terrorism or the threat of such acts or escalation of U.S. military involvement overseas. Additional information concerning these and other factors is contained in the Company's Securities and Exchange Commission filings, including but not limited to, the Company's 2003 Annual Report on Form 10-K. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that may arise after the date of this release.