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Jet America Airlines

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This article is about the airline that operated in the 1980s. For the airline that was proposed in 2009, see JetAmerica.
Not to be confused with easyJet, ExpressJet, Jat Airways, Jet Airways, Jet Asia Airways, jetBlue, Jetstar, or WestJet.
Jet America Airlines
IATA ICAO Call sign
SI JET JET AMERICA
Founded11 September 1980;
44 years ago (1980-09-11)[1]
Commenced operations16 November 1981;
43 years ago (1981-11-16)
Ceased operations1 October 1987;
37 years ago (1987-10-01)
(merged into Alaska Airlines)
HubsLong Beach
Focus citiesLas Vegas
Frequent-flyer programYes; later merged into
Gold Coast Travel
Fleet size8
Destinations11
Parent companyAlaska Air Group
HeadquartersSignal Hill, California, United States
Key people
  • J. Thomas Talbot
  • Alan H. Kenison
  • Ted Shown
  • George Chelius
  • Don Rhoads
  • Tim Collins

Jet America Airlines was a United States domestic airline that operated from 1981 to 1987 when it merged with Alaska Airlines after briefly operating as a separate carrier within Alaska Air Group. It was headquartered in Signal Hill, California, near Long Beach.[2][3]

History

[edit]
Jet America MD-82 at Long Beach Airport

The founding group was headed by executives largely from Air California. The Civil Aeronautics Board issued a final order finding Jet America "fit, willing and able" on June 18, 1981[4] and the airline began operating on November 16, 1981, with a flight from its home base at Long Beach Airport (LGB) to Chicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD).[5] By July 1984 the airline had expanded service to Dallas/Fort Worth, St. Louis, and Oakland, and had launched its own frequent flyer program. Its fleet consisted of six McDonnell Douglas MD-82 aircraft, with a further four on order; a Boeing 707 was also leased in June 1984 for charter operations, which rapidly incurred significant losses and resulted in the early termination of the lease in January 1985.[6]

Services to Detroit, Las Vegas, and Orange County, California were inaugurated in 1985.[7] During that year, Jet America joined with Disney to advertise a direct route from Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) to Long Beach Airport for people to visit Disneyland in its 30th anniversary year. Many of these ads were played during Texas Rangers baseball games or were placed in the team's programs and calendar.[citation needed]

In the summer of 1986, Jet America was operating a small hub at the Las Vegas McCarran International Airport (LAS) with nonstop jet service to Burbank (BUR), Chicago (ORD), Dallas/Ft. Worth (DFW), Long Beach (LGB), Milwaukee (MKE), Ontario (ONT), Orange County (SNA) and St. Louis (STL) as well as direct one stop flights to Detroit (DTW) and Washington, D.C. (DCA).[8]

Jet America Financial Results, 1981 thru 1986
(USD 000) 1981[7] 1982[7] 1983[7] 1984[7] 1985[7] 1986[9]
Op revenue 1,957 29,898 60,083 90,224 101,977 91,026
Op profit (loss) (2,546) (8,277) 3,870 3,016 1,990 (1,628)
Net profit (loss) (3,243) (8,842) 7,973 (3,676) (8,541) (15,810)
Op margin -130.1% -27.7% 6.4% 3.3% 2.0% -1.8%
Net margin -165.7% -29.6% 13.3% -4.1% -8.4% -17.4%

In the spring of 1987, as part of Alaska Air Group, the airline was operating direct flights between the west coast and the east coast of the U.S. including a round trip multi-stop flight with a routing of Orange County (SNA) - Portland (PDX) - Seattle (SEA) - Minneapolis/St. Paul (MSP) - Washington, D.C. (DCA) as well as a Long Beach (LGB) - Chicago (ORD) - Washington, D.C. (DCA) round trip flight.[10]

Late in 1986, the airline received buyout offers from Delta Air Lines and Alaska Air Group.[11] The main interest of the carriers were Jet America's landing slots at Washington National, Chicago O'Hare, John Wayne Airport and Long Beach airports.[12] Given Jet America's financial losses and its ever-changing route network, there was little franchise value. The airline accepted the Alaska bid and by the end of the year the acquisition had been completed. After initially attempting to operate the two airlines separately but finding its strategy for Jet America unprofitable, Jet America was merged into Alaska Airlines in October 1987. Alaska Air Group cited a $9 million loss for Jet America in the first nine months of 1987 prior to merging Jet America into Alaska Airlines.[13] Alaska sold Jet America's 14 slots at Chicago O'Hare Airport and four slots at Washington National Airport to United Airlines in exchange for cash and certain west coast facilities.[14] Alaska received praise from industry observers for bringing the "ill-fated" Jet America experiment to a quick end.[15]

Destinations in 1987

[edit]

Jet America served the following destinations as of June 1987.

Country City Airport Notes Refs
District of Columbia Washington, D.C. Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport [16]
California Burbank Hollywood Burbank Airport Terminated [8]
Fresno Fresno Yosemite International Airport Terminated [16]
Long Beach Long Beach Airport Hub [16]
Oakland San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport Terminated [17]
Ontario Ontario International Airport Terminated [8]
Orange County John Wayne Airport [16]
Illinois Chicago O'Hare International Airport [16]
Michigan Detroit Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport [16]
Minnesota Minneapolis/Saint Paul Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport [16]
Missouri St. Louis St. Louis Lambert International Airport [16]
Nevada Las Vegas Harry Reid International Airport Focus city [16]
Oregon Portland Portland International Airport [16]
Texas Dallas/Fort Worth Dallas Fort Worth International Airport [16]
Washington Seattle/Tacoma Seattle–Tacoma International Airport [16]
Wisconsin Milwaukee Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport Terminated [18]

Fleet

[edit]

At the time of its acquisition by Alaska Airlines, the Jet America fleet consisted of the following aircraft:

Jet America Airlines fleet
Aircraft In service Orders Passengers Notes
F Y Total
McDonnell Douglas MD-82 8[19] 2[19] 12 135 147[20] Orders transferred to another Alaska Air Group subsidiary.[21]
Total 8 2

Fleet history

[edit]
Jet America Airlines retired fleet
Aircraft Total Introduced Retired Replacement Notes
Boeing 707-320C 1 June
1984 		January
1985 		None Leased for charter operations to Mexico and the Caribbean.[6]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ OpenCorporates incorporation record for Jet America, accessed April 20, 2024
  2. ^ "World Airline Directory." Flight International. March 30, 1985. 88." Retrieved on July 23, 2009.
  3. ^ "SEC News Digest Issue 84-34." Securities and Exchange Commission. February 17, 1984. 2/4. Retrieved on July 23, 2009.
  4. ^ "Jet America Fitness Investigation". Civil Aeronautics Board Reports. 90: 319–337. June–July 1981. hdl:2027/ien.35559002074791.
  5. ^ "Jet America Airlines 1982 Annual Report". Retrieved 20 January 2024.
  6. ^ a b "Jet America Airlines 1984 Annual Report". Retrieved 3 June 2024.
  7. ^ a b c d e f "Jet America Airlines 1985 Annual Report". Retrieved 3 June 2024.
  8. ^ a b c "July 16, 1986 Jet America system timetable". Retrieved 20 January 2024.
  9. ^ Air Transport Association 1987 Annual Report
  10. ^ "March 15, 1987 System Timetable". Retrieved 20 January 2024.
  11. ^ "Jet America Option Used". The New York Times. Associated Press. 1986-08-21. Retrieved 2009-06-07.
  12. ^ "Delta bids for Jet America to bolster western presence". Aviation Week & Space Technology. 125 (8): 33. 25 August 1986. ISSN 0005-2175.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  13. ^ "Alaska Air Group 1988 Annual Report". Retrieved 20 January 2024.
  14. ^ "Alaska Air group breaks up Jet America". Aviation Week & Space Technology. 127 (8): 34. 24 August 1987. ISSN 0005-2175.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  15. ^ "Alaska Air Prospers By Focusing on Niche Markets, Profitability". Aviation Week & Space Technology. 131 (13): 110–111. 25 September 1989. ISSN 0005-2175.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  16. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "June 7, 1987 Jet America system timetable route map". Retrieved 20 January 2024.
  17. ^ "October 15, 1985 System Timetable". Retrieved 21 January 2024.
  18. ^ "July 16, 1986 System Timetable". Retrieved 21 January 2024.
  19. ^ a b "Alaska Air Group 1987 Annual Report". Retrieved 20 January 2024.
  20. ^ "Alaska Air Group 1986 Annual Report P8". Retrieved 20 January 2024.
  21. ^ "Alaska Air Group 1986 Annual Report P9". Retrieved 20 January 2024.
  • Norwood, Tom W. (1996). Deregulation Knockouts, Round One. Sandpoint, Idaho: Airways International. pp. 56–57. ISBN 0965399303. OCLC 37263082.


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