ExpressJet Drops Nonstop to Raleigh

By David Bauerlein, The Florida Times-Union, Jacksonville

Apr. 2–Travelers flying between Jacksonville and Raleigh-Durham, N.C., lost a nonstop option Tuesday when ExpressJet closed that route less than a year after it started.

The financial pressure of high fuel costs forced ExpressJet to “make hard decisions more quickly,” company spokeswoman Kristy Nicholas said in an e-mail statement.

Fuel prices also caused ExpressJet to stop offering flights from Birmingham, Ala., and scale back the frequency of flights at other cities, she said. Jacksonville Aviation Authority spokesman Michael Stewart said jet fuel has almost doubled in the past year.

He said airlines will be taking a hard look at their various routes and closing those that aren’t financially efficient. Airlines also are raising fees for various services, like luggage handling or ticketing, to offset fuel costs without raising ticket fares.

ExpressJet began flying out of Jacksonville International Airport in May 2007. The airline continues to operate flights from Jacksonville to New Orleans, Austin, Texas, and Kansas City, Mo.

ExpressJet is the only airline offering nonstop service between those cities and Jacksonville. Travelers flying between Jacksonville and Raleigh-Durham can still book nonstop flights on American Airlines. After ExpressJet announced its Jacksonville to Raleigh service, American Airlines launched its own nonstop service.

ExpressJet, based in Houston, began as a wholly owned subsidiary of Continental Airlines. After becoming a standalone company, ExpressJet operated regional jets for Continental and later rolled out service under its own name with a marketing campaign that says “stopovers are so last week.”

The company operates its regional jets between mid-sized cities that historically lacked nonstop flights.

—–

To see more of The Florida Times-Union — including its homes, jobs, cars and other classified listings — or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.jacksonville.com.

Copyright (c) 2008, The Florida Times-Union, Jacksonville

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.