Semi-private charter airline JSX has a new fleet of turboprops and a hunch Americans might want to fly them.
So, where will travelers see the new aircraft? JSX executives knew exactly where he wanted to send them.
The airline is eyeing flights between San Jose Mineta International Airport (SJC) in Northern California and Santa Monica Airport (SMO) in Southern California. JSX CEO Alex Wilcox told TPG in an interview this week that the route would connect Silicon Valley to “Silicon Beach,” Santa Monica’s nickname.
The challenge is to reserve space at SJC for JSX, which operates out of a private terminal. Wilcox said that could boost the airline’s planned route from SJC to another Bay Area airport: Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport (OAK), where JSX already operates.
Currently, JSX’s only ATR 42-600 flies daily between SMO and Las Vegas Harry Reid International Airport (LAS). Flights from SMO to Arizona’s Scottsdale Airport (SCF) will begin on January 22, and on February 2, the airline will add two more LAS flights, for a total of three flights per day. The LAS expansion will coincide with the arrival of JSX’s second ATR at the end of January.
The aircraft are equipped with 30 seats in a 2-1 premium configuration, similar to the Embraer ERJ-135 regional jet. There are USB-A and USB-C charging outlets at every seat, and starting around February, the airline will offer high-speed Starlink in-flight Wi-Fi connectivity.
Turboprops are back: Are these new JSX planes better than jets?
Passengers can earn points on JSX flights through JSX Club, the airline’s own loyalty program, or through United MileagePlus or JetBlue TrueBlue. However, MileagePlus and TrueBlue members cannot redeem points for new ATR flights.
Wilcox said JSX plans to add two more ATRs by this summer, bringing the fleet to four. The additional aircraft will allow for SMO-SJC or SMO-OAK routes, as well as direct flights from SMO and Dallas Love Field (DAL) to Telluride Regional Airport (TEX) in Colorado.
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“Markets between 300 and 500 nautical miles [or roughly 345 to 575 miles] … That’s what we do better,” ATR CEO Nathalie Tarnaud Laude said in an interview Monday.
JSX’s planned ATR routes are all examples of what it can accomplish with its turboprops: short-haul routes to airports not served by jets. While the SMO did not ban the jets entirely, the runway was too short for the Embraer ERJ-145. The same is true in TEX.
“The board said to me: ‘If you’re going to buy this airplane, make sure you only take it where airplanes can’t go,'” Wilcox said when asked why JSX was adding a new ATR, even though the company has dozens of unused second-hand ERJs parked in the desert.
JSX also plans to add six ERJ-145s in a standard premium 30-seat layout to its fleet this year, he added.
While ATR is opening new routes for JSX, some question whether the airline’s high-end travelers will be as willing to fly ATR as they are with ERJ. Turboprops have all but disappeared from U.S. skies since the rise of regional jets in the 2000s.
“The reason we do experiments is to do experiments,” Wilcox said. “We don’t know what we don’t know yet. All the early signs are very positive.”
Net Promoter Score is a measure of customer satisfaction that will guide airlines in deciding whether to operate ATR – which currently leases its aircraft to airlines – long-term.
Wilcox said that in the first few weeks of service, the aircraft has been flying the SMO-LAS route once a day since December 19, with a net promoter score above the company average, perhaps an early sign that customers like the experience.
If the experiment is successful, JSX will enter into an agreement with ATR to purchase up to 25 more aircraft. Wilcox hopes to make a decision by the fourth quarter of this year.
If a passenger doesn’t want to fly in a turboprop, JSX can return it to the owner, knowing it’s been tried.
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