"Last week we announced Long Beach, California, but today San Francisco, Orlando and Fort Lauderdale in additon to our service in Boston and New York's Kennedy airport. Big day for JetBlue in Austin," said Dave Barger, CEO of JetBlue.   That came from Texas Cable News a few days ago.  Then today in the Statesman, it was announced that JetBlue will add more nonstop flights  The most recent name dropped was Washington Dulles.

Back when major corporations were looking at Austin for possible relocation or expansion, one of the main concerns was the small Mueller Airport and the lack of nonstop service to cities on the east and west coast.  Austin Bergstrom International Airport (ABIA) kicked off cargo flights in 1997 and passenger flights in May, 1999.  Year 2000 saw over 7.6 million passengers in and out of ABIA.  In 2007, that figure was up to 8.9 million, an increase of around 17%. ABIA has been a significant factor in terms of Austin's growth and business activity and the addition of more nonstop flights will do nothing but continue that.