Tallahassee keeps pushing for JetBlue to provide direct air service to South Florida.
On Wednesday, coordinators rolled out a $2-million pledge goal in a new ‘getBlue’ pledge campaign. With $325,000 in pledges secured, the largest surprise pledge came from Florida State University when the school revealed a $1-million pledge based on estimated travel expenses for its staff.
While city officials hesitate to say there’s a deal already in place, FSU’s pledge indicates promise.
“I hope it’s a very positive thing. Obviously, we know — all who work and live here — that more air transportation is needed,” FSU President John Thrasher told the Tallahassee Democrat. “To get (JetBlue) here would be a phenomenal thing. We researched our use of airlines and came up with a number that we think is a very viable number.”
Thrasher said he hopes the sizable pledge makes a difference in JetBlue’s decision. He plans to call corporate officials to further drive home the message: Tallahassee wants JetBlue.
So far, 121 support letters from local businesses and residents have been sent to JetBlue as part of a kick-off campaign launched last year.
By going to getBlueTallahassee.com, residents and businesses (more than 650,440 could be served by Tallahassee International Airport within a 90-mile radius) are asked to estimate how much they’d spend traveling to Fort Lauderdale if JetBlue flew out of Tallahassee. The “good faith” pledges are meant to illustrate local demand.
Demand, if the airline comes, could trigger what’s known in the aviation world as the “JetBlue effect,” which often occurs when the airline expands to a new market — causing a dramatic dip in fares, said TLH Aviation Director Chris Curry.
“We believe if we can bring a low-cost carrier like JetBlue into our region, we can generate traffic well outside of our catchment area (90-mile radius around the airport),” he said in a previous article.
City Commissioner Scott Maddox said campaign efforts needed another boost to set Tallahassee apart from other communities courting the New York-based airline.
“We thought this campaign would be the best way to do that,” said Maddox, who has joined Curry and others in recent talks with JetBlue officials. “We want you to go online and calculate what you would spend in a year and go on the website and say, ‘This is what I’ll spend on JetBlue if they give me a Tallahassee/Fort Lauderdale option.’ ”
Nearly half of Tallahassee’s potential travelers opt to fly out of other airports within driving distance, city officials said. Admittedly Maddox is one of them. Despite cloaking himself as one of the airport’s biggest proponents for improvements, he said flying to South Florida from Tallahassee is either too expensive or too inconvenient.
He and others are hopeful. But, even with FSU’s sizable pledge, Maddox wouldn’t say a deal is locked in.
“I think they’re definitely interested. The question is when can we get them here?” Maddox said. “We’re hoping this campaign kind of puts us over the top.”
JetBlue carries more than 32 million passengers a year to 90 cities in the United States, Caribbean and Latin America. There is an average of 875 daily flights, the airline reports. The airline increased its Florida presence by adding more flights from Fort Lauderdale to Albany, N.Y., and Orlando. Daytona Beach was added in the last month.
The letter writing campaign attracted 44 companies representing 20,000 employees.
Numbers alone indicated South Florida would be of high interest to locals: 13,000 South Florida residents attend FSU, Florida A&M University and Tallahassee Community College and 35,000 FSU and 7,000 FAMU alumni live there. In addition, 56 legislators and more than 100 staffers call the area home.
“From a business perspective, we have hundreds of state lobbying firms and associations that need to be able to get to their members all over the state and a number of private businesses that are based here in Tallahassee with offices scattered around our state,” said Kathy Bell, Greater Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce chairwoman. “So it’s very important that we effectively and efficiently be able to get to our customers.”
Tallahassee Democrat
