For the price of a barrel of oil, JetBlue Airways Corp. is shuttling flyers between New York and Houston - the city it claims is "the energy capital of the world."
The marketing promotion to publicize the low-fare airline's new service between the two cities prices one-way tickets at the previous day's closing price of oil on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Yesterday's fare was $71.
The promotion, "Blue Barrel Fares," runs through Monday, and customers can purchase tickets for travel dates between Sept. 7 and Nov. 15. The offer also stands between Houston and other routes via a connecting flight in New York, according to a company release.
"We've all felt the effects of high oil prices," David Neeleman, chief executive of the company, said in a statement. "We can't make the problem go away, but we can at least try to turn the price of oil into a good thing."
"It's like any marketing promotion, they just happen to have a handle for it, which is oil price," said Robert Mann, president of RW Mann & Co., a Port-Washington-based airline industry consultant.
Brandy King, a spokeswoman for competing discount airliner Southwest Airlines, said the company does not intend to develop any marketing strategies to compete with JetBlue's offer. Southwest offers $99 service between Long Island MacArthur Airport and Houston for tickets purchased online.
Bryan Baldwin, spokesman for JetBlue, said the company has been working on the campaign for several weeks and the timing of its release has nothing to do with the recently thwarted airline terror plot.
Mann said the airline industry has not yet seen a drop-off in passenger numbers. He said it is too early to tell, however, since many people are still returning from leisure summer travel.
Mann said he will have a more accurate picture after Sept. 15, when the industry is dominated by business travel.
"If [airlines] saw that decline," he said, "then there would be reason for concern."
Copyright 2005 LexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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