New Airlines to Bogota

ColombianoGringo says on Jun 25, 2008, 08:07:

Bump

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rmorgan3 says on Jun 25, 2008, 08:35:

JetBlue clear for OIA-Bogota runs
Jason Garcia | Sara K. Clarke and Scott Powers, Sentinel Staff Writers
May 26, 2008
The federal government has given final approval to JetBlue Airways' bid to begin daily, nonstop flights between Orlando International Airport and Bogota, Colombia.

But just when that service will begin -- and possibly even if it will begin -- remains an open question. Jet-fuel costs have ballooned dramatically since JetBlue first asked the Department of Transportation for permission to begin Colombia flights, forcing JetBlue and other carriers to rethink their fleet plans. Most big airlines are now cutting flights rather than adding them.

Although officials at Orlando International are hoping JetBlue will begin the flights in the fall, JetBlue spokesman Bryan Baldwin says the company is still weighing its options. "We need to evaluate the network and how we could potentially fit the service in," Baldwin said. "We're evaluating all of our routes."

Another airline has already backed away completely from Orlando-Bogota service. Colombian carrier Avianca has decided not to begin flying to Orlando, choosing to start new service to the Washington area instead. Officials say Avianca opted not to begin Orlando flights because it didn't want to compete with JetBlue.

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ColombianoGringo says on Jun 25, 2008, 08:48:

Thanks,. It's been known for a while JetBlue and Spirit were both granted new routes to Bogota. My question was more related to when they are going to start service. Does anyone have more recent info?

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viajero123 says on Jun 25, 2008, 09:08:

If you go to the spirit website: http://www.spiritair.com/RouteMaps.aspx
They say service to Bogota starts on 24th July.
They also have a $69 w/out taxes roundtrip fare if you travel on certain dates!! Check http://marketing.spiritair.com/sales/current2.html

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ColombianoGringo says on Jun 25, 2008, 09:15:

Thanks. Those are awesome promotions. Unfortunately, I can't travel on those dates. Still, I like the scheduled times. getting into Bogota in the afternoon is nice.

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droble77 says on Jun 25, 2008, 10:30:

The latest chisme on JetBlue in the airliner forums is not good. It looks like JB will hold off flying to BOG from Orlando at least for a while because of current fuel prices and the fear that projected loads are too optimistic. Not sure how this pans out in terms of keeping this frequency that was alotted to them by DOT. My feeling is that this route is a no go at least for this year. . . :-(

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ColombianoGringo says on Jun 25, 2008, 10:35:

Is JetBlue's only Bogota route out of Orlando? I though that some of the new routes were from Ft. Lauderdale.

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droble77 says on Jun 25, 2008, 10:54:

Yes, it's the only route JB has for Bog and well, all Colombia really! :)

I just did some googling and found on orlandosentinel.com a one-sentence article about JB seeking up to a 2-year delay for the Orlando-Bogota route. I think they're worried about not enough local-based traffic to hold up the flight (plus of course fuel prices).

Spirit's flying to Bogota from FLL. Maybe JetBlue wants to move their frequency to FLL? But they'd have to compete with Spirit and Avianca at FLL, not to mention reapply to DOT.

This might give an opening for Avianca to start the BOG flight from Orlando. I thought I read somewhere they were looking into it but switched to Wash. D.C. when JB applied for the same thing. . .

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ColombianoGringo says on Jun 25, 2008, 11:26:

I was talking to someone that met the new head of Avianca recently. He asked the guy about a Bogota - Houston route for Avianca and was told that Avianca was getting tons of request for it due to the oil business needs. Here's to Avianca applying to come into the Houston market. Continental charges whatever they want for their direct flight and could use a little competition.

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droble77 says on Jun 25, 2008, 12:52:

Wow, now that's interesting! Avianca considering a flight into Continental's fortress hub? Maybe that's why CO added the second flight from Houston to BOG recently. . .

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ColombianoGringo says on Jun 25, 2008, 13:57:

I don't know that it is even being formally considered. The Avianca guy simply said that they were receiving lots of interest in such a flight. He didn't indicate that such a flight was even in the planning stages. Still, it would be very nice.

It may have been a defensive move on the part of Continental, but they certainly need that second flight as the daily Bogota flight is usually pretty full. The interesting thing is that the new route is scheduled as a red eye. I was looking at rewards flights last night and they were midnight to dawn flights both ways. It could have been an error, but that is what it showed for later this year.

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cdy says on Jun 25, 2008, 14:42:

Just be a bit careful with Spirit, they are eliminating about 40% of their domestic flights and corresponding pilots. They were barley profitable when oil was at $70 not at $136 they are one step from disappearing. They do offer some great fares, if you can get one I would take the chance they will still be in business by the end of 2008. I have a flight with them from FLL to Panama City($150 RT incluing taxes & fees)how they can sell tickets at that price I don't know.

There will be no other airline to their rescue in this market, they wil most likely just shut down operations. It is all about shrinking capacity in order to raise prices to at least try to become profitable.

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droble77 says on Jun 25, 2008, 14:56:

Yep, they're definitely red-eyes. I actually like red eyes lol, I can sleep just fine on the plane and you don't waste the daytime traveling; must suck if you're bringing family/kids though. . .

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droble77 says on Jun 25, 2008, 16:59:

Well, I checked the Spirit site earlier today for those $69 fares and I couldn't find them, I think they sold out already, they were probably just a few seats anyway, that's the thing about these Spirit "sales."

I do currently see some Spirit flights from FLL to BOG as low as $221 but that's only on certain dates. Check it out if you can.

By the way, that fare includes all the taxes but NOT the $15 per way check-in baggage fee. Also, if you reserve seats online you have to pay $5-15 for each segment.

As cdy said, I'm keeping my fingers crossed Spirit is still in business early Sept. for my trip to Cartagena, LOL! :-))

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IloveCidy says on Jun 26, 2008, 14:24:

I got mine. It came to 152 with taxes. You just have to take those fares as gifts.

I miss my novia!

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ronaldo says on Jul 6, 2008, 09:34:

Lowest fare I have found from Ft. L to Bogota was on Spirit....$1.38 round trip plus taxes.

Ronaldo

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