After years of anticipation the JetBlue deal seems to be reaching fruition, which is obviously good news for both locals and tourists alike.
It'll be interesting to see what happens to the fares on that NY route. It's pretty well served already between Continental and American with a number of flights daily, so we'll have to see what happens when a lower cost carrier is thrown into the mix.
Tourism Minister Brown may be overplaying the announcement of JetBlue and Spirit a little when he says:
"It is my belief that in 2006 we will eliminate high airfares as a barrier."
One of my concerns is that the expectations around JetBlue's impact have been raised to such levels, and that the politicians are looking to get such mileage out of it, that there's an expectation that the airline will single handedly resurrect tourism.
There's much more to turning around tourism than that. But more and cheaper flights is a big part of it.
Posted by Christian S. Dunleavy