I have to admit that I wasn’t even sure if it was worth covering the demise of JetAmerica since I had no real insight to add, but I’ve had so much fun with it so far, I figured, well, what the heck. JetAmerica’s route map was so goofy that most of the people in the US couldn’t care less, but for the few who did care, you’ll be sad to know that JetAmerica is officially toast . . . for now.
Once again, it came down to slots. JetAmerica couldn’t get any at Newark, and there were rumors that the FAA was about to drop the hammer on the airline. See, you’re not supposed to sell tickets if you don’t actually have slots. Oops. So maybe JetAmerica finally saw the writing on the wall and decided to call it quits or maybe the FAA made the decision for them. Either way, in what should be a surprise to nobody, they’re not even going to get started.
If you had booked tickets on the airline, you’ll get your money back. If you’re an airport and you gave them funds already, well, good luck. I hope nobody spent too much on these guys.
So is this the last we’ve heard of them? They seem to think otherwise. This statement appears on the JetAmerica website:
. . . we have decided to suspend our operations in order to refocus on different markets. We still strongly believe that there is an unmet need for affordable air service to secondary markets and we look forward to offering this option again in the near future.
Oh please no. Just let it die. I can’t imagine any airport wanting to work with them again. Maybe they’ll pop up in some other form some day, but I think they’ve spent all their goodwill by now. If different markets were they answer, they should have started that way. They’ve now had 3 strikes (Air Azul failed to start, one month delay in JetAmerica service, and now the ultimate demise), and as far as I’m concerned, they’re out.
In a way, I feel bad for founder John Weikle. He seems like a complete and total optimist who wants to bring service to small communities. It’s an admirable goal, but so far I’ve yet to see a model come even close to working that can serve that purpose. John has done a remarkable job of finding investors for his ventures, but I just can’t imagine that he’ll be so lucky again.
Nothing to see here. Keep moving.
[Original image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/27466406@N00/ / CC BY-SA 2.0]