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Low Cost Airline News - North America

Airguide Online, March 24, 2008

Mar 24, 2008

AirTran Airways

AirTran Airways has scaled back its capacity growth plans to 5% for 2009 and 2010. The airline said it will sell or reschedule the deliveries of new planes. Mar 19, 2008

AirTran Airways

AirTran Airways flew 1.42 billion RPMs in February, a 28.2% rise from the year-ago month. Capacity rose 14% to 1.82 billion ASMs and load factor soared 8.6 points to 78.1%. Mar 18, 2008

AirTran Airways

AirTran Airways will launch daily Washington National-Milwaukee on May 3 aboard a 717. Mar 18, 2008

JetBlue Airways

JetBlue Airways announced Orlando International as its seventh focus "city," confirming its intention to lease long-term use of up to 10 Airside 1 gates and relocate and consolidate its domestic and international operations from Airside 2 and 4. It also will construct a 292-room crew lodge at MCO. It currently serves 17 destinations nonstop from the airport and will launch an Austin service on May 1. Mar 20, 2008

JetBlue Airways

JetBlue Airways unveiled its new premium seating option, which will be available on both its A320s and E-190s beginning April 1. The Even More Legroom program will make use of its reconfigured A320 cabin and offer customers 38 in. pitch, or four extra in., in rows 2-5 and emergency exit rows 10-11. Price will start at $10 and will vary according to stage length. Exit row seats on the 190 will be available for an extra fee as well. Mar 20, 2008

JetBlue Airways

JetBlue Airways flew 2.03 billion RPMs in February, a 16.7% rise from the year-ago month. Capacity was up 21.5% to 2.64 billion ASMs, lowering load factor 3.2 points to 76.8%. Mar 18, 2008

Southwest Airlines

Southwest Airlines, the leading US discount carrier, said it continues to evaluate growth plans in light of high oil prices. Chief Financial Officer Laura Wright said that Southwest is sticking with its forecast of growth of up to 5 percent for 2008. Like other airlines, Southwest has been slowing expansion this year. Southwest shares rose about 3.9 percent to USD$12.02. Mar 19, 2008

Virgin America

Virgin America today will launch thrice-daily San Francisco-Seattle. Mar 18, 2008

Virgin America

Virgin flight experience. The New York Times' Joe Sharkey recently traveled on a Virgin America flight from San Francisco to New York. He writes that the service was excellent and that the plane arrived on schedule. Virgin officials noted that overall demand for domestic travel "is not slackening" despite higher fares and the weakening economy. Mar 18, 2008

WestJet Airlines

WestJet Airlines flew 1.06 billion RPMs in February, up 19% on the year-ago month, against an 18.2% increase in capacity to 1.28 billion ASMs. Load factor rose 0.5 point to 82.8%. Mar 21, 2008

WestJet Airlines

WestJet, based in Calgary, which has reported record monthly capacity results for better than a year, said it too has not seen its advance bookings decline because of the economy. WestJet sees strong Canadian consumer confidence, with high demand for vacation packages. And if economic conditions soften WestJet was sitting on more than CAD$650 million in cash at the end of last year, a cushion against what it called. With oil prices near USD$110 a barrel, the cost of jet fuel is a concern for both companies, the executives said. The carrier has been able to pass through some of the costs to customers and the strength of the Canadian dollar has also served to mitigate some of the rise. However Durfy said some turmoil may be on the way should high prices continue. WestJet dropped 4 Canadian cents to CAD$17.66 a share on the Toronto exchange. Its stock has gained 18 percent over the past 12 months. Mar 18, 2008

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