JetBlue, an airline best known for transporting passengers along the same coast, such as from New York to Florida, is trying to gain a foothold in the wider travel market by adding a first class cabin, according to NBC News.
Beginning in 2014, the airline that currently flies all-coach airplanes will begin offering 16 lie-flat seats on flights between New York and Los Angeles and San Francisco. It will be the first time the airline will have a second class of service.
Transcontinental routes are the most profitable and highly contested domestic markets for airplanes. Business class tickets usually sell for approximately $4,000 round-trip. Other airlines are also in the process of adding lie-flat beds in their premium cabins, including American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines, Virgin America also offers lie-flat seats already, as well as a traditional first class cabin with larger seats.
"Transcontinental routes have had high premium fares we believe we can beat," Dave Barger, the CEO, said in a statement. JetBlue announced the new seats during a business conference for the travel industry on Monday in San Diego.
The company has announced that the seats will debut on a new Airbus A321 in the second quarter of 2014. The planes will have 16 first class seats and 143 seats in the back of the plane. Four out of the 16 first class seats will have doors and will be marketed by JetBlue as "private suites" similar to the way the Dubai-based airline, Emirates Airway, offers first class seats to their passengers.
The airline's A321s that aren't configured for first class seats will have 190 seats. JetBlue has not addressed the airline's legroom, which is currently 34 inches, and whether that would change.
The premium cabin seats will have air cushions with adjustable firmness, a massage function, a 15-inch widescreen television and a "wake-me-for-service" indicator if a passenger wishes to sleep in.
"The real benefit of lie-flat seats comes on international routes," Jim Corridore, an analyst with S&P Capital IQ, said to NBC, continuing to say that he is skeptical as to whether JetBlue can successfully compete with other airlines on premium seating. He also is uncertain that the airline will be able to offset the loss of the 31 coach seats with higher-fare passengers.
The airline industry had been waiting for the announcement from JetBlue since June, when the airline filed the paperwork for the seating class addition.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
