JetBlue, citing fuel costs, nixes new LAX route

More than three months after announcing a new route between JFK and Los Angeles International Airport that was to begin later this month, JetBlue announced yesterday that it was suspending the route, a move driven largely by the rising cost of jet fuel.

The route was to add a second Los Angeles airport to JetBlue's system. Instead, the airline will continue serving Long Beach Airport, to which passengers who had bought tickets to LAX are now be re-ticketed.

A spokesman for the low cost carrier told the Associated Press that while flying to Long Beach instead of LAX isn't likely to save the company much money on fuel, starting a route to LAX had a whole host of new costs associated with it -- leasing gate and check-in space, maintenance facilities -- that were not prudent to undertake at a time when the entire industry is watching its bottom lines.

New routes are seldom profitable for airlines at first. The spokesman said that in order to make LAX payoff, JetBlue would have been forced to raise ticket prices beyond what customers were likely to want to pay.

The cost in fuel to operate the JFK - Long Beach route has increased to $15,000 per flight from $9,600 since 2007, JetBlue told the AP.

No word yet when the company might move forward with serving LAX.

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