JSX is doubling down on its private terminal experience for passengers in the Phoenix area. The “air carrier” (but not an “airline”) will shift its operations to Scottsdale Airport, approximately 13 miles northeast of Phoenix Sky Harbor. It will operate the only scheduled charter service from the airport with the move, slated for 10 January 2024.
JSX will better match its service to its Customers’ needs and preferences by utilizing the popular Scottsdale Airport, offering efficiency and ease to a growing number of business and leisure travelers alike who embrace our safe, simple, joy-filled flights.
– Alex Wilcox, JSX CEO
The carrier will continue to connect travelers to the Phoenix/Scottsdale area from three markets, Burbank (BUR), Denver/Boulder (BJC), and Las Vegas (LAS).
It remains to be seen, however, how the move impacts the carrier’s flight listings on various metasearch engines and other online resources. The company’s flights to Denver/Boulder do not appear on Google Flights, for example, when using Denver or Boulder as the destination. Specifying “BJC,” however, does work.
If the company is confident it can drive significant traffic through direct sales this may not matter. But losing the listings in third party sites likely will lead to a drop in “accidental” acquisition of new customers.
The new location is roughly equidistant from the old when driving to the Arizona Biltmore resort. For most of the other luxury properties in the region the Scottsdale airport should be a significantly shorter commute. Moreover, even with its operations not located in the main terminal, travelers often are forced to navigate through airport traffic to get to or from JSX’s hangar. As the only sizable operation at the Scottsdale airport that challenge is removed.
The company can also expect to save a bit on its operating costs, as the landing fees for Sky Harbor are 10% higher than at Scottsdale, though rough math suggests that’s only about $225/week in savings. No word on what the hangar lease savings might be.
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Bruce Perryman says
This is a losing proposition for jsx and Scottsdale.
Especially Scottsdale in that the airport will be losing several flight school operations.
Noise abatement is abysmal at best as well and Scottsdale treats the remaining tenets poorly. Nice try but show SCOTTSDALE the money????