Upscale airline startup barges into Southwest’s Texas turf

A tiny startup is expanding its semiprivate flight services in Texas, an incursion on the home turf of industry behemoth Southwest that targets business travelers in three of the state’s largest cities. JSX begins service to Austin, Texas, from Dallas Love Field on Monday while doubling its Houston service to four daily flights. The carrier boards at the same areas as private-jet operators, bypassing congested main terminals and time-consuming security queues. Its Texas fares begin at $129 each way and rise based on demand, but typically remain under $400. The business caters to wealthy urbanites who want something better than the cattle-car experience of major airlines but can’t afford the opulence of a private jet. JSX is one of several startups looking to fill that gap in the market. Aero Technologies, a San Francisco startup from Uber Technologies co-founder Garrett Camp, sells jet flights in the US to leisure destinations such as Las Vegas and Aspen, Colorado, and in Europe from cities such as London and Nice, France. From Los Angeles, Aero charges $950 for flights to Las Vegas and $1,600 to Aspen. Blade Urban Air Mobility, which began in 2014 to shuttle affluent New Yorkers between the city and the Hamptons by helicopter, has expanded to sell flights to Aspen from New York and Los Angeles, as well as between New York and South Florida.<br/>