Semiprivate charter carrier JSX has a new fleet of turboprop planes and a hunch that Americans might want to fly on them.
So, where will travelers see the new aircraft? JSX's top executive knows exactly where he'd like to send them.
The carrier has its eyes on flights between San Jose Mineta International Airport (SJC) in Northern California and Santa Monica Airport (SMO) in Southern California. This route would connect Silicon Valley with "Silicon Beach" (as Santa Monica is known), JSX CEO Alex Wilcox told TPG in an interview this week.
The challenge is securing space at SJC for JSX, which operates from private terminals. This could potentially push the carrier’s planned route from SJC to another Bay Area airport: Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport (OAK), where JSX already flies, Wilcox said.
For now, JSX’s sole ATR 42-600 is flying daily between SMO and Las Vegas’ Harry Reid International Airport (LAS). Flights from SMO to Scottsdale Airport (SCF) in Arizona begin Jan. 22 and, on Feb. 2, the air carrier will add two more LAS flights for a total of three daily. The LAS expansion will coincide with the arrival of JSX’s second ATR later in January.
The planes are outfitted with 30 seats in a 2-1 premium layout similar to that on its Embraer ERJ-135 regional jets. There are USB-A and USB-C charging outlets at every seat, and, starting around February, the carrier will have high-speed Starlink inflight Wi-Fi connectivity.
Turboprops are back: Are these new JSX planes better than a jet?
Flyers can earn points on JSX flights through Club JSX, the carrier’s own loyalty program, or either United MileagePlus or JetBlue TrueBlue. However, MileagePlus and TrueBlue members cannot redeem points for the new ATR flights.
JSX plans to add two more ATRs by this summer, bringing the fleet to four, Wilcox said. The additional planes would allow the launch of the SMO-SJC or SMO-OAK route, as well as nonstop flights to Telluride Regional Airport (TEX) in Colorado from SMO and Dallas Love Field (DAL).
“Markets between 300 and 500 nautical miles [or roughly 345 to 575 miles] ... this is where we are better," Nathalie Tarnaud Laude, CEO of ATR, said in an interview Monday.
JSX's planned ATR routes are all examples of what it can do with the turboprop: fly short routes to airports that it cannot serve with a jet. While jets are not entirely banned at SMO, the runway is too short for the Embraer ERJ-145. The same is true at TEX.
“The board said to me: ‘If you’re going to get this airplane, make sure you only take it to places where the jet can’t go,’” Wilcox said when asked why JSX is adding the new ATRs even though it has dozens of idle used ERJs parked in the desert.
JSX also plans to add six ERJ-145s with its standard premium 30-seat layout to its fleet this year, he added.
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While the ATRs are opening new routes for JSX, some question whether the air carrier’s premium travelers will fly them as willingly as they fly its ERJs. Turboprops have all but disappeared from U.S. skies since the rise of the regional jet in the 2000s.
“The reason we’re running the experiment is to run the experiment,” Wilcox said. “We don’t know what we don’t know yet. All early indications are very positive.”
The net promoter score, a measure of customer satisfaction, will guide the air carrier's decision on whether to fly the ATRs long term — they're currently leased to the carrier.
And for the first few weeks of service — the planes have flown the SMO-LAS route once daily since Dec. 19 — Wilcox said the net promoter score was better than the company average, perhaps an early sign that customers like the experience.
If the experiment proves successful, JSX has a deal with ATR to buy up to 25 more planes. Wilcox hopes to make a decision by the fourth quarter of this year.
And if travelers balk at flying on the turboprops, JSX can return them to their owner with the satisfaction of knowing it tried.
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