http://www.flymemphis.com/NewsDetails?newsid=3217

Flights will be operated twice daily on the ERJ-135. This forum may be changed in the future to a general MEM air service forum.

When did OneJet get E135s? Looks very nice in their livery. Excited to see where this airline goes.

the schedule provides for connections MCI-PIT @MEM but doubt they will sell as such?! I expect to see a lot of these PTP schedule show up with this new fleet plan on J1.

It's interesting that they left BNA-PIT (which is a larger market but has WN competition) and moved to MEM. Hopefully the captive market will work better.

MEM's passenger emplacements have been growing well. We are now around 4.1 million passengers annually. LLCs really help spur on competition. The larger aircraft usage by airlines help as well.

RJNUT wrote:

the schedule provides for connections MCI-PIT @MEM but doubt they will sell as such?! I expect to see a lot of these PTP schedule show up with this new fleet plan on J1.

PIT-MCI is getting nonstop service

flyPIT wrote:

RJNUT wrote:

the schedule provides for connections MCI-PIT @MEM but doubt they will sell as such?! I expect to see a lot of these PTP schedule show up with this new fleet plan on J1.

PIT-MCI is getting nonstop service

I didn't pick that up anywhere about PIT-MCI nonstop. Do you have a source. ?

RJNUT wrote:

flyPIT wrote:

RJNUT wrote:

the schedule provides for connections MCI-PIT @MEM but doubt they will sell as such?! I expect to see a lot of these PTP schedule show up with this new fleet plan on J1.

PIT-MCI is getting nonstop service

I didn't pick that up anywhere about PIT-MCI nonstop. Do you have a source. ?

PIT is gaining MCI, MEM, and PBI non-stop on the 135s

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-release ... 70768.html

did not see MCI coming from MEM, if this thing works, I can see Indy, Nawlins, Raleigh-Durham.

I can dream of XNA being connected to MEM

As for the connections, if they are no plane change stops and they are successful at doing this, that opens up all kinds of opportunities. Thinking a MEM, XNA, STL loop, MEM, TYS, RDU loop and MEM, CVG, IND for examples.

I

What the heck is KCI? I know of MCI and MKC...not sure what this is.

IAHWorldflyer wrote:

What the heck is KCI? I know of MCI and MKC...not sure what this is.

natives call it KCI although not the IATA code for the airport MCI

http://www.flymemphis.com/NewsDetails?newsid=3217

I accidentally said "KCI" instead of "MCI". My apologies.
Twice daily service to Pittsburgh and Kansas City both begin on March 27, 2018. ERJ-135 equipment.

How do I edit the title?

Interesting that all of these are weekday only. I'm surprised that the afternoon/evening rotations wouldn't operate on Sundays as Sunday night is traditionally a busy time for biz travellers to be ready for the first-thing-Monday-morning meetings.

How many e135's is OneJet bringing on? I know they are talking of rapid growth next year.

Tim Hoeksema of YX fame is now on board so that must explain the rapid expansion and upgrade of equipment

Cubsrule wrote:

It's interesting that they left BNA-PIT (which is a larger market but has WN competition) and moved to MEM. Hopefully the captive market will work better.

Did they for sure leave BNA?

ADrum23 wrote:

Cubsrule wrote:

It's interesting that they left BNA-PIT (which is a larger market but has WN competition) and moved to MEM. Hopefully the captive market will work better.

Did they for sure leave BNA?

In view of the facts that they are not operating and not accepting bookings, I’d say so.

Cubsrule wrote:

ADrum23 wrote:

Cubsrule wrote:

It's interesting that they left BNA-PIT (which is a larger market but has WN competition) and moved to MEM. Hopefully the captive market will work better.

Did they for sure leave BNA?

In view of the facts that they are not operating and not accepting bookings, I’d say so.

When does the booking end?

30 seat RJs? Really?

Snowballs chance in hell this works out.

ADrum23 wrote:

Cubsrule wrote:

ADrum23 wrote:

Did they for sure leave BNA?

In view of the facts that they are not operating and not accepting bookings, I’d say so.

When does the booking end?

The last flight went through BNA on November 27.

Varsity1 wrote:

30 seat RJs? Really?

Snowballs chance in hell this works out.

A city with no future gets service from planes that share the same fate.

Varsity1 wrote:

30 seat RJs? Really?

Snowballs chance in hell this works out.

I think the more questionable decision is why they didn't add back MEM to IND. Why would MEM-MCI make more sense than MEM-IND, when FedEX is the 25th largest company in terms of Corporate Travel spending, and have their two largest operations in MEM and IND. In fact J1 even had a corporate contract with FX, for the sole purpose of operating the IND-MEM flight back in 2015, and I doubt much has changed since then.
https://www.bizjournals.com/memphis/blo ... tract.html

MO11 wrote:

ADrum23 wrote:

Cubsrule wrote:

In view of the facts that they are not operating and not accepting bookings, I’d say so.

When does the booking end?

The last flight went through BNA on November 27.

Wow, I wonder why they can't make BNA work. Perhaps too much WN competition?

ADrum23 wrote:

MO11 wrote:

ADrum23 wrote:

When does the booking end?

The last flight went through BNA on November 27.

Wow, I wonder why they can't make BNA work. Perhaps too much WN competition?

When they announced BNA, PIT-BNA on WN was only 1x.

Fedex has an extensive business jet fleet so it wouldn't make much sense to use OneJet on MEM-IND.

Airventure737 wrote:

Fedex has an extensive business jet fleet so it wouldn't make much sense to use OneJet on MEM-IND.

You do realize that J1 ran MEM-IND before, and the only reason it ended was because the focus city was moved from IND to PIT. Why do you think FX had a corporate contract with J1, if the only route they ran from MEM was IND-MEM?

Furthermore, not every employee gets to fly corporate, and FedEx employees who worked in IT, sales, marketing, e.t.c used to fill up that flight on the regular. Also, as I mentioned before FX spent $137 million on air travel last year (25th most in the the US), so they are doing a lot more than just flying around corporate jets.

Airventure737 wrote:

MEM's passenger emplacements have been growing well. We are now around 4.1 million passengers annually. LLCs really help spur on competition. The larger aircraft usage by airlines help as well.

Yep, United is switching to an A319 on the late afternoon ERW route.

Midwestindy wrote:

Airventure737 wrote:

Fedex has an extensive business jet fleet so it wouldn't make much sense to use OneJet on MEM-IND.

You do realize that J1 ran MEM-IND before, and the only reason it ended was because the focus city was moved from IND to PIT. Why do you think FX had a corporate contract with J1, if the only route they ran from MEM was IND-MEM?

Furthermore, not every employee gets to fly corporate, and FedEx employees who worked in IT, sales, marketing, e.t.c used to fill up that flight on the regular. Also, as I mentioned before FX spent $137 million on air travel last year (25th most in the the US), so they are doing a lot more than just flying around corporate jets.

It seems Memphis could become a focus city. My Brother would welcome the return of the Indy flight as they have opened a regional office there and interestingly enough, Pitt is on his radar as well.

I think a flight like this on MEM/RDU would succeed if they can make money using the ER 135.

As they start looking more like JetsuiteX and Ultimate, I’m curious: do they see an advantage to operating from a main terminal rather than an FBO? The only one I can think of is that FBOs can be a little more hidden and harder for ground transport to access at bigger airports with existing traditional airline service. But I would think departing from sterile terminals would prevent them from opening flights from those airports to others without full TSA facilities, which knocks out a lot of niche airports with no existing commercial service. (Consider Ultimate at Peachtree, Burke, Lunken, etc.)

UADiesel10 wrote:

As they start looking more like JetsuiteX and Ultimate, I’m curious: do they see an advantage to operating from a main terminal rather than an FBO? The only one I can think of is that FBOs can be a little more hidden and harder for ground transport to access at bigger airports with existing traditional airline service. But I would think departing from sterile terminals would prevent them from opening flights from those airports to others without full TSA facilities, which knocks out a lot of niche airports with no existing commercial service. (Consider Ultimate at Peachtree, Burke, Lunken, etc.)

Back when they launched in early 2015 they said they would operate from main terminals with full amenities. I suspect they decided to go that route was to give a “real” airline experience and not be viewed as a one-off niche player. Certainly there are advantages to operating at FBO’s including no TSA and the ability to serve non-scheduled airports. And personally I think there is that niche in some markets. But there are advantages to OneJet’s approach.

Visbility and Perception
Being in the main terminal means far more visibility to frequent travelers. Out at the FBO it’s out of sight, out of mind. Being at the main terminal puts them on a level plane with other airlines in perception, and anything less could be viewed as flakey, lesser, perhaps even fly by night.

Amenities
At the main terminal there are airline clubs, restaurants and shops, the full suite of rental car companies, and other airlines if something goes wrong. FBO’s have next to nothing. One could argue that with no TSA there’s no reason to spend much time at the airport when you fly out of the FBO but that’s just not how things often work out. When you leave the client at 4 and your flight isn’t until 6:15 you aren’t going to show up to the FBO at 5:50 just because you can. You want to get to the airport and relax, get some food and maybe a drink, check your email or remote into the office, etc. Same when there’s a delay.

Familiarity and Ease of Use
Frequent travelers know how to navigate the airport experience even at an unfamiliar one. But FBO’s are often out of the way, irregular, often poorly-signed. Parking varies a lot from place to place, access to rental cars can be squirrely. Services are often single-threaded, so when you return your car to Avis “Joe” will happily pick you up and run you to the FBO immediately, but if Joe is out getting gas or on his way to drop somebody else off you are stuck until Joe answers the radio. Frequent travelers know how to use an airport but not an FBO, and expecting them to learn is a burden which will turn customers away.

Opposition versus Cooperation
While it may be difficult to flat-out prevent a scheduled charter service operating at the FBO of a public airport nothing will be made easy for them if they are not wanted. The sort of cooperation, incentives, flexible lease terms, etc. that an airport may do to encourage an airline to add service to their airport may not be available to someone going to the FBO. A general-aviation airport which doesn’t want this can do all sorts of things to drag their feet, be less than accommodating and hospitable. That’s not to say every big airport will bend over backwards for somebody like OneJet in the same way they’d roll out the red carpet to get Qantas. But not every GA airport (or the surrounding community) would want this, and not every scheduled-service airport wants a split operation with an FBO.

Although the lack of TSA is a big selling point for FBO service the TSA pre-check availability helps OneJet quite a bit. Yes, TSA Pre is becoming more popular and crowded but what really can muck up the regular security line is when there are hordes of infrequent flyers, and those people are not likely to get it.

I do think there is a niche for the FBO-to-FBO service in some markets and it can serve frequent travelers in those city pairs well. But I think OneJet envisions a much broader customer base and network, and operating as much like a regular airline as possible is important toward that end.

knope2001 wrote:

Although the lack of TSA is a big selling point for FBO service the TSA pre-check availability helps OneJet quite a bit. Yes, TSA Pre is becoming more popular and crowded but what really can muck up the regular security line is when there are hordes of infrequent flyers, and those people are not likely to get it.

I agree with everything you have written but want to drill down on this point a bit. I find Precheck most helpful at the sort of medium-sized airports that OneJet has targeted. At very large airports, the lines are often nasty no matter what line you are in. At very small airports (and some small checkpoints within big airports, like the checkpoint for the ground level WN gates at SAN), Precheck is no help from a time saving perspective because everyone dumps into the same line. I generally find that at the likes of BNA, PIT, and MKE, TSA makes a successful effort to keep Precheck moving, and it's rare for me to wait more than 5 minutes for Precheck at medium-sized airports even when the "regular" lines are quite congested.

OneJet really needs to get onto the mainstream booking sites to successfully fill a 30 seat plane. For example, I've recommended to 2 different people on OMA-MKE route and neither friend had heard of them and Onejet doesn't show up on Orbitz or Expedia. It does show up on Kayak though which helps but it redirects you to cheapoair.com to book as the only option.

joeljack wrote:

OneJet really needs to get onto the mainstream booking sites to successfully fill a 30 seat plane. For example, I've recommended to 2 different people on OMA-MKE route and neither friend had heard of them and Onejet doesn't show up on Orbitz or Expedia. It does show up on Kayak though which helps but it redirects you to cheapoair.com to book as the only option.

All of those sites cost the carrier to have their flights listed. They are not targeting Joe Smo and his entire family to fly them, they want business travelers and seem to be getting them quite successfully with just word of mouth and local marketing.

flightsimer wrote:

joeljack wrote:

OneJet really needs to get onto the mainstream booking sites to successfully fill a 30 seat plane. For example, I've recommended to 2 different people on OMA-MKE route and neither friend had heard of them and Onejet doesn't show up on Orbitz or Expedia. It does show up on Kayak though which helps but it redirects you to cheapoair.com to book as the only option.

All of those sites cost the carrier to have their flights listed. They are not targeting Joe Smo and his entire family to fly them, they want business travelers and seem to be getting them quite successfully with just word of mouth and local marketing.

up until now they only needed to fill 6-7 seats, so they are in new marketing territory now. We shall see! I imagine they will get into the systems eventually.

flightsimer wrote:

They are not targeting Joe Smo and his entire family to fly them, they want business travelers and seem to be getting them quite successfully with just word of mouth and local marketing.

Looks like they are looking to grow beyond just business travelers:
"Originally focused on the business traveler, OneJet, which has flown smaller seven passenger aircraft, is now upgrading to a 30-passenger plane in some markets.

Maguire told KDKA money editor Jon Delano that he hopes leisure travelers will take advantage of higher class service with roomier all-leather seats, 4G high speed wi-fi with complimentary movies, and free beer, wine, and snacks."
http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2017/12/13/onejet-adds-more-non-stop-flights-from-pittsburgh/

Cubsrule wrote:

I find Precheck most helpful at the sort of medium-sized airports that OneJet has targeted. At very large airports, the lines are often nasty no matter what line you are in. At very small airports (and some small checkpoints within big airports, like the checkpoint for the ground level WN gates at SAN), Precheck is no help from a time saving perspective because everyone dumps into the same line. I generally find that at the likes of BNA, PIT, and MKE, TSA makes a successful effort to keep Precheck moving, and it's rare for me to wait more than 5 minutes for Precheck at medium-sized airports even when the "regular" lines are quite congested.

Definitely my experience with it as well, though I have had some good luck at big airports but not always. Medium-sized airports seem (in my own anecdotal experience) to be pretty dependable in TSA Pre being reliably good The dependable aspect is in some ways the more important part -- I love getting through TSA Pre security in 30 seconds but as long as I know it's never gonna be 30 minutes I'm fine with a line.

Since September T100's just came out I pulled OneJet onboard loads for the month (round-trip averages)

80.6% (5.6 passengers) BDL
76.6% (5.4 passengers) IND
72.3% (5.1 passengers) MKE
70.7% (5.0 passengers) RIC
69.4% (4.9 passengers) ALB
67.5% (4.7 passengers) BNA
66.7% (4.7 passengers) CVG
57.4% (4.0 passengers) SDF

With so few seats per flight (7) each seat is about 14.3 points of load factor so it's pretty tough to be north of 80% For example PIT-BDL could have sold out more than half their flights and only had a handful of departure the entire month with fewer than 4 passengers and still been in the low 80's.

I do wonder if they view the future more as 30-seat aircraft for higher-demand routes or if they will consider increasing frequency. Of course the classic business schedule is early morning and late afternoon/early evening, but early morning, early afternoon and early evening trips in select markets would add useful utility for business travel but not require new aircraft nor dilute yields with too much capacity in markets where the 30-seat ER3 might be too much. Especially in shorter markets if your client meetings wrap at at 2 you won't wait for a flight at 7 and having an extra frequency or two would be helpful.