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A pair of JetBlue Airways routes from Salt Lake City to the West Coast are being axed, victims of record fuel prices and weak demand that made the runs unprofitable.
Beginning July 8, the budget carrier will stop flying to San Francisco and Burbank, Calif., JetBlue spokesman Sebastian White said Thursday.
"Both routes have underperformed, and in an environment of $130-plus [per barrel] oil, it's not financially prudent to maintain unprofitable routes," White said.
JetBlue's decision comes at the same time most domestic carriers, which enjoyed a brief period of profitability last year, are again losing money. Airlines are struggling to cope with oil prices that are double what they were a year ago, as well as the weak economy, which is eroding air travel demand.
On Wednesday, American Airlines said it plans to cut U.S. flight capacity by 11 percent to 12 percent in the fourth quarter because of rocketing fuel prices. The carrier was previously planning a 4.6 percent cut.
At Salt Lake City International Airport, Delta Air Lines has abolished 10 routes this year and trimmed the number of times it flies to other cities as part of a plan to reduce its nationwide capacity by 10 percent. Delta, which is the principal airline in Salt Lake, has no plans for more local cuts, said spokesman Anthony Black.
White said passengers affected by the loss of the San Francisco and Burbank routes can opt for a refund or a seat on a JetBlue flight going to a nearby airport. Burbank passengers can fly to Long Beach; San Francisco-bound travelers can fly to Oakland via Long Beach.
All customers will receive a $25 voucher.
JetBlue began daily flights from Salt Lake to San Francisco last July but ran up against Delta, United Airlines and Southwest Airlines, which also fly into the Bay Area, White said.
Service to Burbank, a new market for JetBlue, started in December, but passenger demand for seats was "minimal," he said.
"The [Burbank] market was not maturing quickly enough, and with fuel being what it is, we decided to exit the market," White said.
JetBlue flies each route with 150-seat Airbus A320 aircraft. By redeploying the planes elsewhere, the carrier will be able to move up the departure of its daily New York-to-Salt Lake flight to 1:45 p.m. from 8:40 p.m. sometime in July, spokeswoman Alison Eshelman said.
The return flight to New York will continue to leave Salt Lake at 11:15 p.m., Eshelman said.
Jet fuel is typically an airline's biggest expense. To improve revenue, JetBlue will begin charging passengers a $20 fee for a second checked bag on June 1. Plans to launch a route between New York and Los Angeles were scrapped last month, and the carrier has stopped flying to Tucson from New York.
At the same time, JetBlue launched a new route from Salt Lake to Las Vegas earlier this month. And it begins a second daily run to San Diego today.