September is a particularly slow month for airline travel. Situated between the summer rush and the holiday season, consumers usually take September off from traveling the friendly skies. And incentives to move around during the back to school season are further inhibited by economic constraints happening right now. But JetBlue has found a way to get people into their airline seats.
JetBlue Airways said Tuesday that September traffic rose 9.8% to 1.92 billion revenue passenger miles from 1.75 billion a year ago. A revenue passenger mile equals one passenger flown one mile. September capacity increased 8.6% to 2.47 billion available seat miles from 2.28 billion last year. Load factor, or the percentage of seats filled with passengers, for September rose to 77.6% from 76.7% a year ago.
In separate news, JetBlue Airways is looking for a new headquarters, and after an extensive review, the New York-based airline said it has decided to focus its search on just two destinations: the New York metropolitan area and Orlando Florida.
"Both locations have tremendous synergies with the JetBlue brand and business model," said Alison Croyle, manager of corporate communications for JetBlue Airways. "The evaluation process will continue for both New York and Orlando, with a final decision for a specific location still several months away.
