JetBlue coming to St. Louis?
Blues owner Dave Checketts said today he wants JetBlue Airways to begin service to St. Louis.
What makes this intriguing is that Checketts is a member of JetBlue’s board.
The matter came up at today’s luncheon sponsored by the Partnership for Downtown St. Louis. Checketts told the hundreds of businesspeople present that St. Louis needs more air service. He provided no details but the audience applauded, anyway.
After the luncheon, Checketts said in a brief interview with the Post-Dispatch that JetBlue is the airline he hopes will serve St. Louis. But he added he has no idea if that will happen. Checketts said his only role has been “to make introductions” between JetBlue leaders and some Missouri officials, includng Matt Blunt when he was still governor.
JetBlue, based in New York, is a major carrier in the Northeast, Florida and the West Coast.
Otherwise, not much new came from the luncheon’s other main speaker, Cardinals President Bill DeWitt III. He said he remains committed to Ballpark Village and that “behind the scenes” leasing activity remains strong.
But he also said the continuing shakiness of financial markets means that Ballpark Village bonds might be sold until the middle of next year. DeWitt hopes the state gives final approval next month for state subsidies to help the downtown project next to Busch Stadium.
In contrast, Checketts said his project to restore Kiel Opera House will get going in early August. He told the lunch crowd to expect “a big surprise” when Kiel reopens in time for the holidays next year.
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Why?
CHEKETTS FOR STL MAYOR!!! I love this guy.
Actually Zach..flights from STL to JFK are limited to Delta, twice a day on a small regional jet. I have found flights overseas departing JFK are much cheaper than out of Chicago, which is how American routes STL passengers. I welcome new service to JFK.
Anything that aids in telling American Airlines to go to h@11. They have done nothing but disrespect the Saint Louis region since they took over. And I don’t know why Slay was re-elected. He has done nothing but preside over one bad situation after another with the icing being the BallPark Mr. DeWallet Village.
Eventually, Jetblue will need a 360 degree midwest hub. O’hare is an operational mess and already has AA & UAL hubs. STL makes sense. Jetblue offers the best value in air travel today. Great business model. New jets, free of legacy carrier mopieness, and appealing to business travelers. Marketing has personality and connects with consumers. This is an airline for the future.
STL needs to think about a transition from American to Jetblue on mainline routes to start. The hub would be down the road. American has no need for three mid-content hubs. STL is no longer a focus city or mini-hub for AA. Time to move on. No other growing airline out there needs a mid-content hub. Southwest may increase flights, but the point-to-point model will never lead to a fortress hub in STL. We need Jetblue. Virgin America is the other only possibility, and is much farther behind in development. Checketts is setting a standard for acting on vision. One can only hope the local powerbrokers take note.
Sounds good to me!
Last time I checked, we had a near-empty D-Concourse at Lambert and runways with quite a bit of unused capacity.
The difference between Checketts and DeWitt is staggering. Checketts proposes something and then actually gets it done!
As for Jet Blue, that’s been rumored for awhile as Jet Blue seems to move into old TWA territory. I think it would be great to have another carrier as AA just seems to be closing more gates here. Another carrier would mean more jobs, more revenue and increase the opportunity of getting big events here like Super Bowl
If there were more people in St. Louis with the vision of Mr. Checketts St. Louis would be a much better place. I bet Keil Opera House will be in operation for 10 years before anything is done at BPV. I say take the land from the CArdinals by eminent domain, run a street down the legnth of it and sell the land to the highest bidders, with the stipulation that no parking lots can be built and let it grow dynamically. Merge the city and county and make checketts the mayor of this new 1.5 million person city. St. Louis needs som enew blood, bad, and Mr Checkets is the perfect non-lifer to put in charge.
Its nice that checketts wants to help out but i have to agree with zack st louis is just not the right market for jet blue. A better chocie would be kansas city or omaha since they dont have a hub airline its just not fair. And besides what does st louis have to offer, it has no beaches or major poplular theme parks like disney land or major attractions and most of st louis is a dirty ghetto with high crime rates and gangs.
JetBlue would be a great match for St. Louis with all of its corporations and Fortune 500 companies. St. Louis also has a large airport with space to accomodate it. It’s a win-win situation.