Denver -- The airline venture planned by JetBlue founder David Neeleman won't have the impact that JetBlue had, Spirit CEO Bob Fornaro said.
"There is really no one to sneak up on," Fornaro said on the sidelines of the International Aviation Forecast Summit here Monday.
Neeleman's nascent airline, which is being called Moxy in the planning stages, has ordered 60 Airbus A220-300 aircraft, a fuel-efficient plane with 130 to 160 seats. Deliveries are to begin in 2021.
According to the trade publication Airline Weekly, which first reported on the venture, Moxy plans to focus on providing inexpensive point-to-point services between small airports that have lost connectivity due to U.S. airline industry consolidation.
Fornaro said the new venture will enter a tougher landscape than JetBlue did when it launched in 2000, using New York JFK as its base. At the time, Fornaro said, there was little domestic service out of JFK. Further, he said, today's existing carriers are stronger than they've ever been.
"There's not a lot of room," Fornaro said. "So I would say the airlines today, they're all tough competitors."
He added that time will tell whether Moxy finds its operational niche or whether it becomes one more company fighting in existing niches.