Discount carriers boost fleets
By Chris Woodyard
USA Today
Leading discount airlines are on a jetliner buying binge that could lead to more low-fare routes for consumers.
Associated Press
AirTran Airways announced this week a firm order for 50 Boeing 737s, with options on 50 others, which could be used for transcontinental and other long-distance domestic routes.
AirTran Airways has ordered 50 Boeing 737s, with options on 50 others, which may be used for transcontinental and other long-distance routes. The company's president says the move gives it more range and flexibility.
"It gives us the range and the flexibility to go where we can't go now," said AirTran President Bob Fornaro.
AirTran's expansion comes as Southwest and JetBlue also add to their fleets, as some old-line major airlines drop planes from theirs.
JetBlue announced recently it would buy 100 Embraer 190s, a 100-seat plane that complements its larger Airbus A320s. It previously ordered 65 more A320s. Southwest plans to take delivery of 119 Boeing 737s through 2008.
Most of the new planes are among the smallest big jets, designed primarily for short to medium routes rather than longer intercontinental routes.
Southwest, AirTran and JetBlue have been among the few profitable airlines in the industry. Others have increased their fleets, but not as aggressively.
Meanwhile, some of the largest carriers are paring their fleets while struggling to compete with the more efficient discount airlines. American Airlines said Tuesday it would ground another 57 planes by mid-2004. The latest fleet reductions will bring the nation's largest airline to the size it was in early 2000, before it bought TWA.
The new planes could greatly expand the discount airlines' reach. Although many major cities have some low-fare service, several routes between them and smaller cities remain open to discounters. JetBlue said it had identified 305 routes traveled one way by more than 600 people a day.
Discounters see opportunity in:
• Midsize markets. AirTran's Fornaro says the new 737s can be placed on more routes between major markets, freeing more of the carrier's fleet of 117-seat Boeing 717s for smaller markets. AirTran now flies to Akron, Ohio, and Moline, Ill.
• Low-demand markets. JetBlue says it found 807 routes with fewer than 100 people flying daily that could be potential markets for its 100-seat Embraers. "We're bringing service to markets that have never had low fares," said spokesman Gareth Edmondson-Jones.
• Extra frequencies. Southwest is adding 17 new planes this year, all to increase flights on existing routes or begin nonstop flights between cities it already serves.
