Imagine

JetBlue is a US airline based in New York, where the iconic Eero Saarinen TWA terminal is earmarked as part of its future home. Major operations are found in Boston, Fort Lauderdale (the Gold Coast/Coolangatta airport of Miami), Long Beach (imagine a Los Angeles version of Essendon, but still used commercially), Orlando and San Juan (in the US Caribbean territory of Puerto Rico).

Running a fleet of Airbus A320s and Embraer E190s with a low cost base, it might sound like a portmanteau of Jetstar and Virgin Blue — but offers more legroom than any Australian airline.

Given the unique geography and settlement patterns of Australia, jetBlue is perhaps the ripest example for study. Spacious economy seats on its more than 120 Airbus A320s start at a generous 34 inches of seat pitch as standard, with a seat width of 17.8 inches.

That’s three inches more leg room and a good half an inch more elbow room than Qantas or Virgin Australia offer domestically on their Boeing 737 fleets. Realistically, that’s all any flyer needs on the Sydney-Melbourne-Brisbane triangle, and it’s more than most passengers get even on longer flights to Perth or New Zealand.

But the real deal is the 38 inches of legroom in the seven ‘Even More Space’ rows. That’s a whisker away from Australian domestic business or international premium economy. And all for $40 on the three-hour flights from New York to Florida.

JetBlue’s smaller Embraer E190s are similarly tops: 18.2 inches wide, no middle seats and pitch starting at 32 inches. Australians familiar with Virgin Australia’s E190s love the little Brazilian “jungle jets”.

Imagine: spacious new Airbus or Embraer jets shuttling around the Triangle with a low cost base and fares pitched between Virgin/Qantas and Tiger/Jetstar. It’d be an absolute bloodbath.

The next North American example: Porter Airlines.

Canadian Porter shuttles passengers in a fleet of Bombardier Dash-8 Q400s from the city centre Toronto Billy Bishop Airport to a dozen Canadian cities and a half dozen US east coast hubs.

As QantasLink and Skywest know well, turboprops are incredibly cost-efficient, with even some capital-to-capital services within Australia being relegated from small jets to the Q400 and ATR-72.

But Porter’s boutique niche eclipses either Australian example: 34 inches of seat pitch, city-centre airports, and pre-departure lounges with free coffee, soft drinks and snacks, plus craft beer, wine and food for purchase. On board, wine, beer and soft drinks are free.

Imagine: an Australian airline with extra legroom, and a significantly nicer evolution of the Tiger-style separate terminal in the airport to sit down, charge up and chill out.

Of course, the airline loyalty battle is even more of a bloodbath than the battle between the airline groups to which the programs ostensibly belong, given their tail-wagging-the-dog relative profitability.

Yet, as Australians are slowly beginning to recognise, fuel and ticketing surcharges mean that even the most flush point-hoarder will find it tricky to avoid forking out a hefty sum on a redemption, especially in premium classes.

The real earning opportunities for most travellers come from credit cards and other tie-ins, while the sweet spot for redemptions is international upgrades — for which passengers must generally have purchased a more expensive flexible fare, and where availability can be problematic for all but the most clued-in.

And the terms and conditions, expiry dates and fare class earning rates are designed to make programmes unprofitable for irregular flyers, who resignedly cash in their expiring points for a domestic economy flight to somewhere

Is it time for the market to be disrupted by an American example? Southwest Airlines’ Rapid Rewards scheme started out as little more than a coffee-shop style “buy sixteen get one free” card on the original low-cost airline.

It’s since evolved to a fare-based system, but an Australian equivalent could use the similar distances between Sydney and Brisbane or Melbourne to create a simple earning set. One point for Sydney-Melbourne or Brisbane. Two points for Melbourne-Brisbane. One point to Canberra. An extra point for sitting in the extra-legroom seats.

Imagine a loyalty program focussed not on aspirational international redemptions but on every-time-you-fly improved experiences — an extra legroom upgrade or additional hold bag for four points, or free to the most frequent flyers.

The time has never been riper for a newcomer airline to disrupt the Australian aviation market with a plucky challenger narrative, better economy class products, decent airport services and a frequent flyer program that actually rewards regular travellers for flying.