JETBLUE YONDER CARRIER LAUNCHING NEW YORK ROUTE TODAY.

Byline: Gregory J. Wilcox Staff Writer

BURBANK - Bob Hope Airport gets a makeover of sorts today as JetBlue Airways initiates nonstop service between the San Fernando Valley and New York, giving transcontinental travelers an alternative to congested Los Angeles International Airport.

The low-cost carrier, which offers leather seats and DirecTV, starts service with three daily flights each way between Burbank and John F. Kennedy International Airport, with a fourth starting July 15 - the first time an airline has provided direct service from the Valley to the East Coast.

Burbank becomes the airline's seventh Golden State destination, representing a microcosm of the challenges facing the airline industry. JetBlue is expanding during a time of mergers, bankruptcy, layoffs and financial troubles at competitors.

JetBlue, which also flies out of Long Beach and Ontario, is among seven brands serving the airport. Four have hit operational turbulence.

--Alaska Airlines has announced layoffs and a wider first-quarter loss than a year ago.

--Delta Airlines' stock price is near a 32-year low.

--United Airlines has bankruptcy and labor issues.

--America West Airlines last week announced a merger with US Airways.

Additionally, had Aloha Airlines not filed for bankruptcy and pulled out of Burbank in April, JetBlue wouldn't have been able to move in.

The discount airline, which has inundated local television with advertising, sees promise in its third Southern California location.

``It means first of all that, in their judgment, there is a market for the particular product and route that they propose to serve,'' said Dios Marrero, executive director at Bob Hope Airport. ``It also means for us the introduction of service to a segment of the airline market we have not served with any consistency.''

The airline, which has built a solid client base with its fresh marketing approach, is operating in the black.

``Having a profitable tenant is a good thing for us or any other airport facility,'' Marrero said.

For now, JetBlue will remain content to focus on the one route to New York, although the airline also flies into Seattle, Portland, Sacramento, Oakland, San Jose, Salt Lake City, Denver, Las Vegas and Phoenix.

Sacramento saw service added to Washington, D.C., soon after the airline's arrival.

``We'll continue to look at what may make good business sense for us but right now the focus is Burbank to JFK,'' said JetBlue spokesman Todd Burke. ``There are way more cities out there we'd like to fly to than we have airplanes.''

But demand for travel has only recently picked up after a multiyear slump in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. How the airlines resolve lingering financial problems will have a big impact on Burbank's terminal.

``We're most concerned about United Airlines,'' Bob Hope's Marrero said. ``They've got the most complex situation for a whole lot of reasons. They ... have the greatest amount of peril, but they may be the closest to resolving the situation.''

Most recently, the airline bought itself time. A strike threat against the troubled airline was averted last Friday when a bankruptcy judge in Chicago delayed until May 31 a ruling on United's effort to force a new contract with its machinists union. This means more time to negotiate an agreement.

While the combination of US Airways and America West would give the new fifth-largest airline the ability to match JetBlue's low-cost marketing along similar routes, that's not likely to happen, since America West will set the tone for the new operator, according to America West spokesman Robert Colbert.

``We had looked at reducing transcontinental (operations) because of the cost of fuel,'' Colbert said. ``We don't have that much in terms of transcontinental any more. But that doesn't mean that America West will abandon Burbank, either.''

A Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc. analyst said in a note that, in a conference call after the merger was announced last Thursday, executives had hinted that radical change was not in the offing.

``Certainly the route structure and the allocation of capacity is something that is still taking shape and there could be more cuts over time, but the tone of management ... did not imply radical capacity reductions,'' he said.

Goldman Sachs analyst Glenn Engle noted that the two carriers had little overlap.

And, as JetBlue's Burke notes, his company made it a point of avoiding Los Angeles International, too, because of long lines and congestion.

``It's all about convenience.''

Gregory J. Wilcox, [phone]

greg.wilcox(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

3 photos

Photo:

(1 -- 2 -- color) Burbank's Bob Hope Airport, above and left, becomes a West Coast destination for JetBlue Airways today, as the low-cost carrier initiates daily flights to and from New York's JFK Airport.

(3) A new carrier will join Southwest and America West today when AirBlue begins daily service to New York's JFK Airport.

Gus Ruelas/Special to the Daily News