The popular low cost airline has warned it faces a second-straight yearly loss in 2006 and its shares have plunged 35 percent so far this year amid concern that it failed to plan on fuel prices in the range of $60 a barrel.
"We're going to diversify the route system into a lot of new routes," David Neeleman told an investor conference. "We feel really good about what we're doing going forward."
In addition to the two destinations, which spokeswoman Jenny Dervin confirmed will be announced this Friday, the airline will open 7 new gates at its base airport, New York's JFK International, by June 1.
That will bring its total gates at JFK to 21 and allow the airline to boost its flights from one of the world's busiest airports, potentially serving more short-to-medium haul routes which have less competition.
Neeleman said the airline could add as many as six additional destinations this fall.
Some of JetBlue's most recent routes go from New York to Richmond, Virginia; Austin, Texas; and Portland, Maine. They are a departure from the competitive routes on which the airline had focused between Florida and the northeastern U.S., and between California and the U.S. East Coast, where it struggled to raise fares.
Dervin declined to identify the destination cities to be named on Friday.
Some of Neeleman's comments responded directly to criticism by Prudential analyst Bob McAdoo, who downgraded his rating on the airline last Thursday to "underweight", citing a shortage of gates at JFK and a need to reduce "weak long haul" flying.
Neeleman called the report by the analyst, once chief financial officer at 1980s-era discount airline People Express, "incorrect or unfair in a lot of ways."
He also said the report criticized JetBlue for not taking steps the airline in fact plans to take.
"I really believe we'll be a much stronger company because of the rough patch we're going through now," he said.
Yahoo! News
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Ben over at USAtoday's Aviation column has been asked several times where JetBlue's next few destinations will be. It is probably wise to say that JeBlue will not be picking anything new on the East Coast because of the already established competition. However some people are saying that Midwestern cities could be in line for JetBlue service. Minneapolis, Chicago, and even any one of Ohio's major cities could see JetBlue service. It really is up in the air. JetBlue surprised a few people when it added service to Richmond, Va, which begins on 31 March from NYC and on 6 April from Boston.
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