Friday, April 24, 2015

OneJet plans nonstop service between Milwaukee and Pittsburgh

OneJet CEO Matthew Maguire exchanges greetings with Dave Johnson, one of the pilots on the Hawker 400A aircraft as he boards at Mitchell International Airport.




OneJet, the Indianapolis-based small jet start-up, said Friday that it is adding nonstop service between Milwaukee's Mitchell International and Pittsburgh International Airport.

OneJet operates small jets and only flies when someone purchases a ticket for one of its flights. It began service between Milwaukee and Indianapolis on April 6.

OneJet's business model focuses on city pairs that do not have nonstop air service between them and where the company's research shows there is demand.

Pittsburgh is among the top-demanded destinations not served by nonstop flights from Milwaukee, officials at Mitchell International said.

The Pittsburgh service is set to begin May 4. The flights will be offered four times weekly, Monday through Thursday, departing from Milwaukee at 8 a.m. Central time and arriving in Pittsburgh at 10:10 a.m. Eastern time. Return service from Pittsburgh will depart at 4:30 p.m. Eastern and arrive in Milwaukee at 4:50 p.m. Central time.

"I am thrilled that OneJet is already expanding its innovative business model here to include service to Pittsburgh," Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele said in a statement. "We are always looking for more options for those who travel out of Mitchell and when companies can successfully accomplish that, we're committed to helping them succeed and expand."

Mitchell International is owned and operated by Milwaukee County.

Pittsburgh International is owned and operated by the Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Airport Authority.

"More than 27,000 people per year fly between Pittsburgh and Milwaukee," Allegheny County Airport Authority CEO Christina Cassotis said in a statement Friday announcing the new service. "We're very pleased that OneJet will provide our community with these much-needed nonstop options."

Nonstop service between Milwaukee and Pittsburgh on Frontier Airlines ended in January 2012.

OneJet is also adding service between Pittsburgh and Indianapolis as part of the service expansion. Nonstop service from Pittsburgh to Indianapolis on US Airways ended in January 2009.

OneJet's base of operations is Indianapolis. Its flights will feature six-seat Hawker 400 jets. OneJet flies out of Concourse D at Mitchell International.

The company plans to continue adding service on routes that major carriers have abandoned, but where nonstop demand exists.

"We plan to add about one aircraft and several destinations to the network each month for the rest of the year," said OneJet CEO Matthew Maguire. "Milwaukee to Indy was our soft-launch route."

OneJet flights are being operated by the company's regional partner, Pentastar Aviation. Pentastar is wholly owned by Edsel B. Ford II.

OneJet is pursuing a strategy of starting small. It will only fly when tickets are sold for its flights. It focuses almost exclusively on corporate travelers. There is no checked baggage. Small carry-ons are allowed.

"You book it the same way as you would any other airline," Maguire said. "There's a ticket counter here. There's a gate here.

"You're at your destination in a fraction of the time it takes to connect from somewhere else," he added.

Flight time between Milwaukee and Pittsburgh is about an hour.

The flights will be priced competitively with commercial air carriers, factoring in what OneJet says is the premium corporate travelers are willing to pay to conduct business in another city and get back home the same day.

On the Milwaukee-Indianapolis route, for example, "you're not going to see more than $300 or $400 from us, which is a great value when you're looking at $250" for a one-stop connecting flight, Maguire said.

OneJet flights can be booked via corporate or online travel agencies including American Express Global Business Travel, BCD Travel, Expedia, or Carlson Wagonlit Travel.

Original article can be found here:  http://www.jsonline.com

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