JetBlue jockeys for prime gates at Hartsfield-Jackson

ajc.com

Credit: Kelly Yamanouchi

Credit: Kelly Yamanouchi

JetBlue Airways is pushing for prime gate space at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport as it prepare to launches flights in Atlanta at the end of this month.

New York-based JetBlue plans to start flights from Atlanta to Boston on March 30, but says in a letter to the Federal Aviation Administration obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that it had expected to be able to operate out of Concourse E at the Atlanta airport.

Concourse E, an international facility built in 1994, has a more spacious feel than the airport's older Concourses T, A, B, C and D. Another international gate facility, Concourse F, was completed in 2012 with the international terminal.

According to the airport, the priority on Concourses E and F is international flights.

In a letter last June, JetBlue's vice president of network planning Dave Clark wrote to Hartsfield-Jackson general manager Roosevelt Council that "it's clear that the existing common use gates at the end of the D Concourse are not satisfactory to serve the aircraft and higher end business and leisure travelers that JetBlue is targeting in the Atlanta market."

For more about how JetBlue's launch of Atlanta service could be affected and the broader issues of competition between big carriers and new entrants in the airline industry, get the full story on MyAJC.com.

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