JetBlue plans $100 Boston-N.Y. service

Taking a flight to New York could be cheaper than hopping the train if JetBlue Airways has its way.

The airline's chief executive, David Neeleman, reiterated his plans to start regular Boston-to-New York service while appearing at a tourism conference in Brazil yesterday, and said a round-trip ticket would likely carry a fare as low as $100.

At that price, JetBlue would undercut US Airways and Delta Air Lines, the two carriers that currently fly hourly shuttles between Logan International Airport and LaGuardia Airport in New York. The fare also would be cheaper than Amtrak's Acela Express service, which charges $99 each way.

JetBlue's plans could set off more cutthroat competition among airlines at Logan. Already, AirTran Airways' chief operating officer, Bob Fornaro, has said the airline is considering starting Boston-to-New York flights.

''The benefit is this low-cost carrier phenomenon which will now enter the Boston-to-New York market," said Tom Kinton, director of aviation for the Massachusetts Port Authority, which owns Logan. ''The shuttle has been isolated so far."

The service may still be at least a year away because Neeleman has said that he won't start the service until he has enough planes. The airline is supposed to get the first of 200 new regional jets in October and those planes would likely be used on Boston-to-New York flights.

Neeleman, born in Sao Paulo, was in Brazil yesterday to tour the factory where his new jets are being built, said JetBlue spokesman Gareth Edmondson-Jones. Edmondson-Jones said JetBlue does not consider its planned service a shuttle.

''Clearly, we want high frequency," he said. ''But it's too early to say how many and what frequency."

Edmondson-Jones said the $100 fare was based on JetBlue's fares between John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York and Buffalo, and JFK to Rochester, N.Y., which range between $49 and $119, each way. JetBlue would fly between Logan and JFK, while Delta and US Airways' shuttles go to LaGuardia.

Some travel specialists say that business travelers might prefer LaGuardia, which is closer to Manhattan.

Benet Wilson, a Delta spokeswoman, declined to comment on JetBlue's plans.

''Until they actually do something, it's too soon to speculate," she said.

Logan's other shuttle operator, US Airways, has been operating under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection but said it is preparing itself for low-cost competition, including JetBlue.

''We have been aggressively attacking our cost structure to be in a better position to compete with the low-cost carriers," said US Airways spokesman David Castelveter. ''Would there be enough capacity for three carriers? I just have to leave that out there, not knowing the amount of service they would bring in."

JetBlue is positioning itself to become a major competitor at Logan. Last month, the airline said it planned to take over 11 gates in Logan's Terminal C, which Delta will vacate when it opens a newly renovated terminal next week . JetBlue expects to spend $9 million sprucing up those gates and to grow to about 100 daily flights from Logan by 2008, up from 19 today.

Airport officials have estimated that JetBlue could carry as many as 5 million passengers per year from Logan, provided it can fill that many flights. American Airlines, currently Logan's largest airline, carried about that many passengers last year from Logan.

The latest word from Neeleman comes as Delta is bracing for growth of its own and as US Airways tries to fend off competition from low-fare airlines elsewhere.

Both airlines run 16 daily shuttle flights between Logan and New York. US Airways charges between $118 and $570 per round trip, according to its website, while a round trip goes for $255.40 with a seven-day advance purchase on Delta's website.

Delta will open its 18-gate Terminal A at Logan on March 16, after spending $400 million to renovate it. Delta, the second-largest airline at Logan, will have 99 daily flights from the terminal, but during a tour of the facility last Saturday, one of its executives said there was room to add hundreds more flights.

Keith Reed can be reached at reed@globe.com.