Now this is just getting silly. The dustup at Logan was already the most interesting battle in the airline industry, with Southwest turning the turf war into a bloodbath and pushing out major carriers like US Airways. JetBlue—which considers Boston home turf—isn't going to be shoved aside as easily. They're retaliating by increasing their Boston flights by a full 30 percent.

Southwest recently broadsided JetBlue and AirTran by adding two daily roundtrips, for a total of seven, between Boston and Baltimore. That bumped up the total number of BOS-BWI dailies to 20. Given that 20 is probably way more than necessary, an outside observer might guess that Southwest was just trying to spite their rivals. ]]> Omri 2009-11-04T10:29:21-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/10/15/143752/37

The outlook for the 2010 airline industry is unremittingly bleak, but you wouldn't know it from the way that Southwest is acting. The low cost carrier is adding 104 flights to its spring schedule. In the process they're turning the Boston turf war they started with JetBlue and AirTran into a full-blown bloodbath:]]> Omri 2009-10-15T17:33:37-05:00 42.3644450 -71.005280 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/9/17/133213/545

We'll say this for Southwest: when the Dallas-based LCC wants to start a fare war, they sure start a fare war. The airline just got done opening its first routes to Boston and now, less than a month later, they're already expanding their point-to-points into Logan:

Southwest Airlines says it will launch service from Boston to Denver with two daily nonstop round-trips starting Jan. 10. The announcement marks the second addition the Dallas-based, lower-price carrier has made to its offering of destinations at Logan International Airport since it began service here Aug. 16. Southwest has begun taking reservations for flights and is offering introductory fares from Boston to the Denver International Airport as low as $99 each way.

]]> Omri 2009-09-17T14:43:54-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/8/21/144857/420

Southwest began flying out of Boston-Logan last Sunday, a move that their CEO once declared would never ever happen. Nonetheless, we weren't particularly surprised: we flagged the expansion back in April when they announced their routes, and again a few weeks ago when AirTran gave them a "welcome to Boston" by announcing free WiFi for Boston flights.

What is much more interesting is what the move means for the LCC niche and the airline industry as a whole, two different markets that are increasingly difficult to untangle.

The Wall Street Journal just published a must-read article on the industry, taking Southwest's expansion as the centerpiece and moving on from there: ]]> Omri 2009-08-24T08:59:39-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/7/20/71822/1711

For those who haven’t been taking notes, Southwest Airlines is set to take off from Logan Airport in Boston starting halfway through August. Hopefully their low cost model will help lower flight prices out of Beantown; it has already brought some freebies to flyers thanks to a little friendly competition.

AirTran knows the stakes are high, so they are offering free WiFi aboard all their flights that travel between BOS and BWI—one of Southwest’s main routes. The free in-flight WiFi will be available for the whole month of August, in hopes that travelers will choose their WiFi planes over the other guys.]]> kjb 2009-07-20T09:14:21-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/6/29/222419/359

This is the story of a little airline that could; Porter Airlines has expanded service against all odds. Their original route, from Toronto City Airport to Newark, has sprouted into a full few destinations from Toronto including Montreal, Quebec City, Halifax and more. They even made the jump across the border last fall with the addition of service to Chicago-Midway.

This month brings some new meat for Porter fans to chew: they'll begin flights to Boston-Logan from Toronto three times daily on September 14.

Long a favorite airline of Monocle magazine, Porter seems to favor slow and steady expansion. We've been dying to try them out, but we're going to need a better reason to head to Toronto than "just cause" if we're paying $99+ each way without taxes and fees ($306 total).

Related Stories:
· Porter Airlines Announces Service To Boston [Porter Airlines]
· Porter Airlines Coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Eric Begin]]]> JetSetCD 2009-06-30T09:02:19-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/4/14/72918/1804

Like all good airline nerds, we've been eagerly anticipating Southwest's flight schedule out of Boston and today we're happy not only to know where SW is flying from Beantown but also when.

Starting on August 16 the airline that LUVs its customers will be departing from Logan Airport ten times per day. They're going to head to Chicago's Midway Airport five times daily, while another another five planes fly down to Baltimore-Washington Airport each day as well. Since these are both major hubs for the airline, you'll pretty much be able to get anywhere you'd like.

Fares for these new routes will start at $89 each-way from Chicago, and $49 each-way from Baltimore. To take advantage of these opening day rates you need to book them by April 20, and finish your trip before October 29. Of course taxes, fees, and other stuff is extra—Fridays and Sundays are excluded from the deal.

Now, let's just hope they have some new in-flight WiFi news up their sleeves soon, we're dying to know more over here.

Related Stories:
·Southwest Airlines Announces Fares and Flights To/From Boston Logan [Official Site]
·Southwest To Begin Service to Boston [Chicago Sun-Times]
·Southwest coverage [Jaunted] ]]> kjb 2009-04-14T09:48:47-05:00 Search Jaunted string http://www.jaunted.com/search/