JetBlue will begin daily flights between New York Kennedy and Sacramento, California on March 3rd. There is currently no non-stop service between those two airports.
Sacramento is JetBlue’s fifth California city, joining Long Beach, Oakland, San Diego and Ontario.
JetBlue’s strategy remains to grow with transcontinental flights, where their unique niche matters to customers. They offer DirectTV and leather seats, which customers prefer on long flights (at least price being equal). On short flights, this edge doesn’t shift customer decision-making.
Expect JetBlue to continue raiding long haul bread and butter routes of the major carriers and avoiding short haul expansion, especially where they would face head to head competition from other low cost carriers.
Update: Far from resting on their laurels, JetBlue will be adding XM satellite radio. Airtran, which currently offers no in-flight entertainment (but does boast a business class cabin), will be adding XM as well.
