JetBlue Has Big Plans for Boston

(MoneyWatch)  Many people still think of JetBlue as a New York airline, and that's something that will never disappear, but JetBlue has really tried to lay down some claims elsewhere. Now, they're really making a big move on Boston.

JetBlue has made many efforts to grow focus cities. Its successful Long Beach operation is capped thanks to (artificial) airport constraints. The expectation for Dulles to grow really never came to fruition. And Orlando and Ft Lauderdale have seen some good growth to the Caribbean. Boston has grown slowly into a good-sized operation . . . until now. That growth is about to explode, and it makes a lot of sense to me.

Like most airports in the corner of the country, no single airline can claim Boston as its own. American, Delta, and US Airways all have sizable operations, but that's somewhat tentative. US Airways has announced that it will be severely curtailing its non-hub flying. That means smaller airplanes on the Boston to New York shuttle and the virtual elimination of Boston to Caribbean flying. Delta and American are likely more focused on the looming battle of New York these days, but Southwest has recently started serving Boston so the battle is seeing some new players.

You might be surprised to know that if you rank by operating carrier, JetBlue has more traffic in Boston than anyone (about 17 percent). That changes when you combine regional carriers with mainline, but it's still sizable. Now that number is about to grow dramatically. Here's what they're adding:

• 2 additional daily flights to both Chicago/O'Hare and Raleigh/Durham
• 1 additional daily flight to Baltimore, Charlotte, Denver, Ft Lauderdale, San Diego, San Francisco, and Washington/Dulles
• 4 additional weekly flights to Santo Domingo
• 1 new weekly flight to Montego Bay

And at the end, they simply say "And more to come!"

It looks like JetBlue is ramping up significantly to become a major presence in Boston. Some of this may be at the expense of New York - those airplanes have to come from somewhere. I like this idea for the airline, though it will be interesting to see if Southwest wants to rise to the challenge.