At last! The hip, frugal luxury airline JetBlue has announced new service from Portland (PDX) to New York (JFK) beginning May 17. This is a victory for Portland, as it has been the only major west coast market without JetBlue service (even Sacramento got service last year). This new service doubles the number of choices (sad, but true) at PDX for non-stop flights to New York (the only other airline currently providing non-stop service to the New York area from PDX is Continental to Newark). Introductory JetBlue pricing is from $99 each way to New York (JFK). Learn more and buy a ticket. Here is a survey of current media coverage (via Google News).
While this is big news in Portland (The Oregonian, Portland Business Journal), it is illustrative to read the New York Times coverage. The main storyline there is the simultaneous announcement of three flights a day to Burbank, California. Only in paragraph 19 is the PDX announcement even mentioned:
Yesterday, JetBlue said it would fly daily between Kennedy Airport and Portland, Ore., starting on May 17. And, it said it would add a second daily flight between Seattle and J.F.K. on June 17.
At least it got mentioned at all.
