This week’s featured link:
JetSuite Plans Big Expansion With New Investments From Qatar Airways And JetBlue – Forbes
I continue to scratch my head over the announcement that Qatar Airways will put money into JetSuite, and JetBlue will up its investment. I totally get it from JetSuite’s side. It’s trying to expand and it’s not profitable, so it wants more money to fuel growth. But what is Qatar going to get out of this? And why is JetBlue doubling down and putting more money into the currently-money-losing venture?
Even if JetSuite is successful, I’m not sure how JetBlue and Qatar expect their core businesses to benefit. Maybe Qatar thinks it can get in JetBlue’s good graces by helping keep JetSuite going so JetBlue doesn’t lose its investment. Maybe it’s all the beginning of some bigger, super secret plan. Or maybe Occam’s razor applies and the simplest explanation is the right one. What is that? JetSuite just caught the eye of Qatar’s CEO and so he put money in, and JetBlue wants to chase its original investment with more so it doesn’t get diluted. It’s just hard to see how this all comes together, so I’m going to stop trying to make sense of it.
Two for the road:
The Evolution of Ontario International Airport – airport business
Curious to learn more about the rise of Ontario here in Southern California? Benet Wilson sat down with CEO Mark Thorpe to learn more about what the airport is doing. Watch out for those cargo carriers. It’s a huge growth opportunity for Ontario, and when they grow, that brings costs down even further for all the other users of the airport.
Prescott Airport could have commercial flights again within weeks – The Daily Courier
When an airline goes belly-up and a small airport loses all service instantly, it’s quite the hardship. Prescott in Arizona, however, seems to have a lot of competition for replacement service. One seems pretty far out there – Advanced Air wants to fly KingAirs from Hawthorne, that little airport you see on the left side on final approach to LAX. That would be odd, to say the least, and a strange use of federal funds.