May 10, 2007

US Helicopter swaps JFK partner to Delta from AA

Starting Monday, US Helicopter will switch its Manhattan-to-JFK Airport service to the Delta terminal instead of American Airlines'.

"A number of factors necessitated the move - not the least being the fact that American Airlines are consolidating all their flights into one terminal as the old Terminal 8 is being closed," US Helicopter said in a statement e-mailed to NewYorkology today. "Commercial and facility related reasons require US Helicopter to move it operations to Delta Air Lines at JFK. Delta has more international flights from JFK than any other airline and has plans to continue their aggressive expansion plans on long-haul domestic and international flight schedules from JFK."

That means only Delta ticket holders will get the big benefit of avoiding the additional security lines at the airport and not have to transfer between terminals at JFK. US Helicopter is currently in the process of trying to accommodate American Airlines passengers booked for flights after this Friday who will now see their time savings lost, a USH spokeswoman told NewYorkology.

The time-savings is significant if you're traveling with the USH partner airline, according to the company's website. Starting next week, if you're heading to a Delta flight at JFK, you should allow 35 to 40 minutes of connection time. But for any non-partner carrier, you'll need 90 minutes.

Monday's new service to Delta's Terminal 3 still requires approval from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

Although the news release (in pdf format) about the Delta service made no mention of American Airlines, a USH spokeswoman told NewYorkology the move should be characterized as more of a "suspension" of American services rather than a "termination." The company has previously said it's been looking into ways to provide secure-side transfers between airline terminals, allowing more than one partner per airport.

A year ago, US Helicopter launched its regular weekday 8-minute shuttle between JFK and Wall Street heliport with American Airlines as its partner. Since then, it's added service to Newark Liberty Airport with Continental as its partner. Service to both airports is also offered from East 34th Street in Manhattan. Service to LaGuardia is in the works.

Service from Manhattan includes TSA-approved security at the heliports. The total cost for a flight to JFK from Wall Street is $164.90, or $174.90 from E. 34th Street to JFK.

US Helicopter said it now operates 325 weekly flights, but the company has declined to release actual passenger numbers.

Earlier: Delays for US Helicopter's LaGuardia shuttle service
34th Street Heliport to start airport shuttles Feb. 5
US Helicopter to start Newark-Wall Street on Dec. 18

May 10, 2007 02:36 PM in Arrivology

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