For a while now, I've had an idea for an airline in my head. Until I can think of a better name, I just call it the "JetBlue of the Midwest". There really isn't anything else to call it, because that's essentially what it is. Whenever I look at JetBlue's route map, I notice fights all across the Northeast, flights to Florida, the Caribbean, and California. But there seems to be something missing. Something big is missing, looming large, despite being flown over daily on multiple flights. The Midwest is missing, and it's noticeable. JetBlue has tried many times in the past to enter the region but they always seem to fail somehow. In fact, just recently, the airline had to pull it's twice daily Pittsburgh to New York JFK because the route was underperforming, leaving the only Midwestern destination with flights to JFK being Chicago's O'Hare.
I'm not bashing the airline at all, in fact just the opposite here. Every time I read about the founding of JetBlue, I think to myself how that's a great way to start and run an airline. Focusing on your people and culture will in turn be a great benefit to your product. I just think that by marketing itself as "New York's Hometown Airline" and being such a common name in Northeast air travel, the airline is restricting itself. Culturally and economically, cities like Detroit, Cleveland, St Louis and even Pittsburgh are more linked to Chicago than New York City. In the Midwest, life moves at a much slower pace. Northeasterners have a much more fast paced, go-go-go type of mindset and are also much more socially liberal, as opposed to Midwesterners, who will take the time to get to know someone they're talking to and are much more socially conservative. While the Midwest may not play host to as many large cities as the Northeast, it has many more otherwise important cities. Chicago is the heart of the Midwest, probably more so than New York is for the Northeast.
That's where the JetBlue of the Midwest comes in. There are many analogies to be made between the real JetBlue and this new airline. JetBlue set up its primary hub in the heart of the Northeast: New York. Comparatively, the JetBlue of the Midwest would use the heart of the Midwest as its hub. Before JetBlue came to fruition, fares from New York City to cities in Upstate New York were sky high. Similarly, fares between Chicago and other cities in the Midwest such as Detroit, Cleveland, and Minneapolis are also through the roof. JetBlue has made its living flying from the Northeast to Florida, utilizing two hubs on both ends in Boston and New York/JFK in the Northeast and Fort Lauderdale and Orlando in Florida. On the other hand, this airline would fly between the Midwest and Florida with Chicago/O'Hare and St Louis in the Midwest and Fort Myers (RSW) and Tampa in Florida.
