JetBlue Boston-Baltimore flights in September 2009

The low-cost carrier JetBlue Airways has announced that it will start four flights a day from Boston’s Logan International Airport to Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport from September 9, 2009. JetBlue Airways – headquartered in the Forest Hills neighborhood of the New York City borough of Queens in the United States – already operates six daily, non-stop flights between Boston and Washington Dulles International Airport.

Also, JetBlue currently offers direct, daily service from Boston to O’Hare International Airport in Chicago.

JetBlue Airways said the introductory prices for the new flights from Boston’s Logan International Airport to Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport would begin at $39 for one-way tickets bought before May 4, 2009.

Southwest Airlines, based in Dallas, Texas, the United States, had announced earlier, in April 2009, that it would start flights from Boston to Chicago’s Midway Airport and also to Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport on August 16, 2009. Southwest Airlines has said it would offer $89 one-way introductory fares for Chicago and $49 one-way fares for Baltimore.

Comair, the regional carrier of Delta Air Lines, and AirTran Airways already fly on the Boston-Baltimore route – with Comair operating 6 flights a day and AirTran operating 7 flights daily.

Scott Laurence, JetBlue’s vice-president of network planning, said, “JetBlue is in the business of giving customers more than the other carriers, so we are pleased to announce even more flights to the Washington area.”

The website boston.com quoted Rick Seaney, chief executive of Farecompare.com, as commenting on JetBlue’s planned services from Boston to Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, “The new flights are good news for Boston travellers. When Southwest Airlines, which carries more passengers than any other United States-based airline, enters a market, it tends to ratchet up pressure on rivals, driving down prices.”

This trend, Rick Seaney added, could be especially true at Boston’s Logan International Airport, as the airport is not dominated by any single airline and it already offers flights from several other lower-cost carriers such as Virgin America, AirTran Airways, and Spirit Airlines.

In October 2008, JetBlue Airways had announced that Boston was one of the three most important cities in its growth strategy – the strategy that focuses on “attracting more business travellers and charter flights for companies and teams.”

JetBlue had also said then that it planned to jack up its operations at Boston’s Logan International Airport Logan in 2009.

JetBlue said that Baltimore would be the airline’s 32nd city from Boston, adding that the new service was a nod to the growing importance of Boston, and that Baltimore will be a city served only from Boston.