"Long Beach, California airport faring well"

Wednesday, March 26, 2003

L.B. Airport faring well
Travel: JetBlue, others say they won't cut schedules despite nation flying
less.
By Felix Sanchez
The Long Beach (CA) Press-Telegram


As domestic airlines struggle with increasing numbers of travelers afraid to
fly because of the Iraq war and possible terrorist attacks prompting some to
drop flights and forecast layoffs airlines at Long Beach Airport say so far
they are bucking the trend.

Yes, passengers have been slightly fewer in recent weeks but not enough that
service into and out of Long Beach Airport will be affected, an official
said.

JetBlue Airways, the airport's major tenant with 22 daily takeoffs and
landings, is maintaining its passenger numbers so far but advance bookings
are down, said spokesman Gareth Edmondson-Jones.

"Yes, there's some softening but nothing unexpected,' Edmondson- Jones said.
"We're on a day-to-day basis. It's week one. We'll see what happens in week
two' of the war. "There are no plans to reduce capacity or anything.'

JetBlue continues to increase service out of Long Beach, its designated West
Coast hub, confirming it is still on target to begin new daily flights in
early May from here to Atlanta, the low-fare carrier's first dip into the
South since starting daily service out of Long Beach in 2001.

JetBlue last week also announced new nonstop service between New York City's
JFK International its East Coast hub of operations and San Diego.

America West Airlines had a "healthy March,' according to spokeswoman Janice
Monahan. "This past weekend in particular, we had strong passenger loads
systemwide. We have not seen a significant impact on bookings that can be
directly attributed to the war. Also, at this time, we have not made any
changes to our flight schedule as a result of the war.'

Tim Wagner, an American Airlines spokesman, said American has not cut
domestic capacity out of Long Beach and will be monitoring future bookings
closely. American also has set up a "comfort policy' to give customers
flexibility in future travel.

Horizon Air has no plans to change service in Long Beach and so far in
March, passenger loads have been strong because of spring break fliers, said
Cheryl Temple, Horizon public affairs manager.

"Horizon is doing well in Long Beach,' Temple said, although she added the
city is unusual because of the higher percentage of business travelers who
use the airport and Horizon.

Airport spokeswoman Sharon Diggs- Jackson said February is typically a slow
month for airlines. According to load factor reports for February, JetBlue
leads the four carriers who operate at Long Beach with an average of 75
percent.

The load factor is the percentage of a plane's total passenger seats that
are filled.

Horizon Air, which recently began regional jet service to Seattle, operated
with a 69 percent load factor, followed by American Airlines with 65 percent
and America West with 62 percent.

For February, 176,913 passengers used departing or arriving flights at the
airport. So far this year, 380,500 have used the facility, Diggs-Jackson
said.

Travel agents around the country and Southern California say that the people
who appear to be shying away from booking flights are those who don't
normally travel much. Business travelers and frequent fliers seem to be
keeping up their habits.

Delta Air Lines, Continental Airlines and Northwest Airlines have announced
they would be cutting operations, including domestic and international
flights, to offset the drop in passengers. Northwest is also laying off
5,000 people. These airlines do not fly from Long Beach.

United Airlines and American Airlines also have trimmed schedules at some
airports.

For those flying JetBlue, which offers all of its passengers live television
at each seat, there is an intense interest in watching war coverage, at
least according to anecdotal information.

JetBlue CEO David Neeleman flew JetBlue over the weekend and reported nearly
all the passengers were watching MSNBC's war coverage, Edmondson- Jones
said.

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