The day has arrived and ExpressJet has now officially launched their own branded airline. The website is up and running at Xjet.com but they aren’t taking online reservations yet.

What they have done is announce their new service and there are going to be some very happy people in small to medium sized cities in the West, Midwest, and South. Here’s the route map.

As you can see, this looks more like Southwest than any other airline. It’s all point to point and they’re connecting a lot of cities that don’t see nonstop flights today.

I really think these guys are on to something. I don’t have daily passenger numbers on these routes, but routes like Tucson to Austin and Ontario to Colorado Springs seem smart to me. Some of the routes I do have to question, like Fresno to Ontario and Bakersfield to San Diego, but overall I’m impressed.

It’s interesting to note that some of these markets, like San Antonio to Tulsa were tried by United Express and failed. Will these guys be able to make those routes work? We’ll find out.

Head to this page for a list of all the routes they’re going to fly and when they start. It looks like flights begin April 2 between Ontario and Austin, Boise, Kansas City, Omaha, San Antonio, Spokane, and Tucson as well as Kansas City to Tucson. Except for a handful of flights with no date announced including all flights from Jacksonville, Raleigh/Durham, and New Orleans, the rollout will be complete by June 4.

As mentioned before, they’ll have XM Radio on all flights. That’s a first for regional jets, as far as I know. I think the whole concept is a pretty cool idea, and they’re serving markets that may actually be able to support nonstop flights on smaller planes. I’m guessing not all routes will work but many will. Congratulations to all the smaller cities that will now have new nonstop destinations.