We know this is a short sample and they only have one flight. They do seem very consistent and reliable.
At the same time these late night arrivals have to have everything go right all day for it to be on time in Worcester this late?
Comments
Anonymous said…
You also have to factor turn around time. Each airline has it scheduled where the NYC flight takes just over an hour (JetBlue 62 minutes, American 64 minutes, Delta 77 minutes) to get to Worcester. But in reality, the flight can make it in half that time if the weather is good (it takes around 30 minutes to go from JFK or LGA to Worcester on a nice day, sometimes even less). But when it doesn’t work that way, the flight can take that scheduled time. One common reason for the JetBlue delays is the turn around times. The time JetBlue has between when the flight is scheduled to land and then take off from Worcester is only 35 minutes. Meaning, they expect to have everyone deplane, get all the luggage out, put the departing flight’s checked bags on the plane, check everyone in and board, and then go in that time. On a packed flight, that isn’t as easy as it sounds, and who knows where the E190 aircraft is coming from beforehand because if it’s going from Orlando to JFK beforehand then it’s going to take a lot longer to do all that. To put it to comparison, Delta has it scheduled 63 minutes apart and American has it 52 minutes. 17 minutes doesn’t sound like a huge difference, but if a plane is leaving at least 15 minutes later than scheduled, it’s considered delayed. And before a comment is made about more people being available, it doesn’t really matter. Like today, after the E190 plane does the ORH route, it’s going to Atlanta from JFK then returning and that has a 35 minute turn time as well. If crews can’t do everything mentioned in that time, then why are flights being scheduled to be turned around that quick.
The next flight that ORH should push for is Delta to Atlanta. I would rather see Atlanta than another LGA flight because ORH is great for families looking to travel to Florida (Fort Lauderdale and the old Orlando flight showed that). Delta offers flights to so many vacation destinations every 1-2 hours (to certain areas) down there from Atlanta. For example, Atlanta to Orlando has 15 daily flights, Fort Lauderdale has 12, Tampa has 12, West Palm Beach has 10, Fort Myers has 8, Key West has 5. If Delta was willing to use the A319 or A220-100 the flight would work. Even if Delta offered one flight to Orlando a day directly, people would still use it. Honestly, Delta’s aircraft and in flight entertainment (when it’s not a delta connection flight) is a lot better than JetBlue’s in my opinion. Plus, Delta has one of the best on time performances in the country, and how often do they cancel their ORH flight or arrive/depart late? It’s very rare. American isn’t bad either, and I’ve never used them, but I’ve heard that they don’t offer in flight entertainment unless you download stuff on your phone. In flight entertainment can go a very long way especially for family’s with young kids since they can just plug in headphones and watch TV which will keep them quiet most of the flight.
Anonymous said…
Just saw that JetBlue had to to abort landing at ORH. They tried to land but American was on the runway and blocked it from landing so now they’re currently in the process of going around. This isn’t the first time they’ve had to do that either and it’s the second time I’ve seen it happen since American moved their flight to a mid day turn. When a plane lands on Runway 29 (the one they use the most and the one that doesn’t have the Cat III system), there is no side area where if a plane lands, they can just go to the side and head to the terminal. Instead they have to use about 3,000 feet of the runway to go back and head to the terminal. Bradley, TF Green, and Manchester all have that side strip where any plane after landing or before taking off can go and not interfere with another aircraft.
Not sure if it’s the controller’s error or not but it’s something to wonder why it happens. Luckily next Wednesday the mid day flight becomes an am flight for JetBlue so it shouldn’t happen anymore unless it’s wind or weather related but still scary to think about.
Common Sense said…
Not sure why when they built the airport they didn't build a parallel taxiway to runway 29? Maybe if flights at ORH grow significantly Massport will consider this. They did build a jug handle at the end of 29 so if a plane lands it can scoot over onto that to allow another plane to land.
Comments
The next flight that ORH should push for is Delta to Atlanta. I would rather see Atlanta than another LGA flight because ORH is great for families looking to travel to Florida (Fort Lauderdale and the old Orlando flight showed that). Delta offers flights to so many vacation destinations every 1-2 hours (to certain areas) down there from Atlanta. For example, Atlanta to Orlando has 15 daily flights, Fort Lauderdale has 12, Tampa has 12, West Palm Beach has 10, Fort Myers has 8, Key West has 5. If Delta was willing to use the A319 or A220-100 the flight would work. Even if Delta offered one flight to Orlando a day directly, people would still use it. Honestly, Delta’s aircraft and in flight entertainment (when it’s not a delta connection flight) is a lot better than JetBlue’s in my opinion. Plus, Delta has one of the best on time performances in the country, and how often do they cancel their ORH flight or arrive/depart late? It’s very rare. American isn’t bad either, and I’ve never used them, but I’ve heard that they don’t offer in flight entertainment unless you download stuff on your phone. In flight entertainment can go a very long way especially for family’s with young kids since they can just plug in headphones and watch TV which will keep them quiet most of the flight.
Not sure if it’s the controller’s error or not but it’s something to wonder why it happens. Luckily next Wednesday the mid day flight becomes an am flight for JetBlue so it shouldn’t happen anymore unless it’s wind or weather related but still scary to think about.