Jet America Airlines Explained

Airline:Jet America Airlines
Iata:SI
Founded:11 September 1980[1]
Ceased:
Focus Cities:
Frequent Flyer:Yes; later merged into
Gold Coast Travel
Fleet Size:8
Destinations:11
Parent:Alaska Air Group
Headquarters:Signal Hill, California
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

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.

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 !! 1982 !! 1983 !! 1984 !! 1985 !! 1986[9]
Op revenue1,957 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

Jet America served the following destinations as of June 1987.

CountryCityAirportNotesRefs
District of Columbia align=center [16]
California align=center
align=center
align=center
align=center [17]
align=center
align=center align=center
Illinois align=center align=center
Michigan align=center align=center
Minnesota align=center align=center
Missouri align=center align=center
Nevada align=center align=center
Oregon align=center align=center
Texas align=center align=center
Washington align=center align=center
Wisconsin align=center [18]

Fleet

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

See also

References

Notes and References

  1. https://opencorporates.com/companies/us_ca/0997347 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. 2027/ien.35559002074791.
  5. Web site: Jet America Airlines 1982 Annual Report . 20 January 2024.
  6. Web site: Jet America Airlines 1984 Annual Report . 3 June 2024.
  7. Web site: Jet America Airlines 1985 Annual Report . 3 June 2024.
  8. Web site: July 16, 1986 Jet America system timetable . 20 January 2024.
  9. https://airlines.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/1987.pdf Air Transport Association 1987 Annual Report
  10. Web site: March 15, 1987 System Timetable . 20 January 2024.
  11. News: Jet America Option Used . . . 1986-08-21 . 2009-06-07.
  12. Aviation Week & Space Technology. 1986. 25 August 1986 . Delta bids for Jet America to bolster western presence. 33. 125. 8. 0005-2175.
  13. Web site: Alaska Air Group 1988 Annual Report . 20 January 2024.
  14. Aviation Week & Space Technology. 1987. 24 August 1987 . Alaska Air group breaks up Jet America. 34. 127. 8. 0005-2175.
  15. Aviation Week & Space Technology. 1989. 25 September 1989 . Alaska Air Prospers By Focusing on Niche Markets, Profitability. 110-111. 131. 13. 0005-2175.
  16. Web site: June 7, 1987 Jet America system timetable route map . 20 January 2024.
  17. Web site: October 15, 1985 System Timetable . 21 January 2024.
  18. Web site: July 16, 1986 System Timetable . 21 January 2024.
  19. Web site: Alaska Air Group 1987 Annual Report . 20 January 2024.
  20. Web site: Alaska Air Group 1986 Annual Report P8 . 20 January 2024.
  21. Web site: Alaska Air Group 1986 Annual Report P9 . 20 January 2024.