Lofty goals

While some carriers cut back, JetBlue puts Boston at the center of its growth strategy

June 27, 2010|Dave Demerjian, Globe Correspondent

For JetBlue Airways, Boston is becoming big business.

In the six years since it entered the market, the low-cost carrier has become the largest airline at Logan International Airport, pushing down fares and helping to reverse a decade-long slide in passenger numbers. While other airlines have pared down operations in Boston in recent years, JetBlue has made the city a cornerstone of its growth strategy, pitting it against low-fare rival Southwest Airlines, which started flying from Logan last year.

“We saw people driving to Providence and Manchester to fly Southwest and knew there was a strong customer base,’’ said Marty St. George, JetBlue’s senior vice president of marketing and commercial strategy, adding that at Logan, the airline saw an opportunity to build a leading position at one of the only major US airports without a dominant competitor. “For years, you’ve had three high-fare airlines splitting Boston, none of them making a major commitment to the market.’’

Now, JetBlue, the nation’s eighth-largest airline by passengers carried, has committed to growing in Boston, with an expansion that will boost its daily departures by 30 percent this year. Last year, the airline boarded 3.7 million passengers in Boston, compared with 3.2 million for American Airlines and 2.9 million for US Airways, Logan’s number two and number three carriers, respectively. By July, JetBlue will fly an average of 77 daily flights to 34 destinations, further extending that lead.

Today, Boston is the second-busiest city in the JetBlue system, accounting for nearly 24 percent of its total capacity, up four points from last year. And the company says it will continue to expand here even as it reins in capacity growth throughout most of its network.

“Latin America and Boston are the two focus areas for us right now,’’ St. George said. The airline recently acquired two more gates, for a total of 13 inside Logan’s Terminal C, and St. George said plans include connecting the airline’s two concourses in the terminal and eventually building a centralized security checkpoint. “We have made a major commitment to Boston, and will continue growing here for as long as we can do so profitably.’’

Aviation consultant Robert Mann said JetBlue’s decision to build up its operations in Boston came in part because it found itself constrained in other markets, particularly at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, where it faced endemic congestion and competition from a resurgent Delta Air Lines.

He said Boston’s demographics align well with what he calls JetBlue’s “business casual’’ brand because the city is “known in the business community as having a sort of ‘Silicon Valley East’ attitude.’’