JSX ATR 42 service is about to reshape how the general public constitution provider reaches underserved airports. Is that this the beginning of a turboprop comeback in america?
In an period when turboprops have all however disappeared from the US business panorama, JSX is doing one thing some may need questioned just some years in the past.
The semi-private, “hop-on” provider has taken supply of its very first ATR 42, a transfer that immediately turns heads and raises a deliciously retro query: is JSX about to spark a turboprop revival in a rustic that fell onerous for regional jets and by no means appeared again?
The timing is simply as intriguing because the plane itself. JSX plans to launch its first ATR service from the legendary Santa Monica Airport (SMO), a storied basic aviation subject with roots that run deep into American aviation historical past, even because it marches towards its scheduled closure in 2028. The transfer is equal elements audacity, nostalgia, and strategic opportunism. It definitely has created loads of controversy, to which JSX is not any stranger.
A Pink Unicorn Lands in Dallas
JSX took supply of its first-ever turboprop on 13 November 2025. The ATR 42-600, registered as N408SV, touched down on the firm’s Dallas headquarters at Love Discipline (DAL) after a ferry flight from Bar River Airport (YBE) in Ontario, with stops at Sault Ste. Marie Municipal Airport (ANJ) in Michigan, and Oklahoma Metropolis’s Will Rogers Worldwide Airport (OKC). The plane is the primary of two ATR 42s the provider will purchase by the top of 2025, with two extra leased examples arriving in early 2026.
For many avgeeks, the registration ought to ring a bell. The plane beforehand flew for Silver Airways, delivered new to the now-defunct Florida-based provider, in December 2021, and configured for 46 passengers. After being withdrawn from use in February 2025, the ATR sat dormant in storage till JSX swooped in. Now the plane has been retrofitted with 30 business-class-style seats and ATR’s HighLine interiors, bringing its cabin expertise consistent with the premium vibe JSX is understood for.
Owned by lessor TrueNoord, the plane will ultimately turn out to be N400JX.
Why Turboprops, and Why Now?
As a result of JSX has its eyes on airports most vacationers by no means get to make use of.
In line with the corporate, the ATRs unlock entry to greater than 1,000 airports throughout america, a lot of which at present serve non-public aviation solely. This suits neatly into JSX’s area of interest as a Half 380 public constitution operator flying underneath Half 135 guidelines, permitting it to supply scheduled flights from non-public terminals with an expertise that feels semi-private.
Alex Wilcox, JSX Chief Govt Officer, put it this manner. “The ATR 600 collection will carry over 1,000 new airports into attain for JSX, increasing entry to dependable public constitution flights throughout the nice United States. Many of those airports had been, till now, reserved solely for individuals who had the means to fly non-public. I’m assured that our Clients will love the ATR product, not only for the number of new routes it permits JSX to function, but in addition for its quiet cabin and cozy seating.”
JSX has greater plans, too. On the 2025 Paris Air Present, the corporate signed a letter of intent (LOI) for as much as 25 ATRs, together with 15 agency and 10 choices. These may very well be ATR 42-600s or ATR 72-600s, all configured with 30 seats.
The economics sweeten the deal much more. Turboprops burn roughly half the gasoline of JSX’s Embraer jets and are about 30 p.c cheaper to function. For a provider that already runs 50 ERJs, together with ERJ-135s and ERJ-145s, the financial savings are important.
With Horizon Air retiring the Sprint 8-Q400 in 2023 and Silver Airways collapsing in 2025, turboprops have practically vanished from the nationwide stage. JSX is bringing them again, and doing it with type.
Santa Monica Airport Will get a New Chapter… For Now
JSX’s first ATR route is about to start on 19 December 2025 between Santa Monica Airport and Las Vegas. SMO will get a single each day departure at 1730 native time, touchdown in LAS at 1845. The return leaves LAS at 1145 and arrives again at SMO at 1300.
Marketed as a premium, stress-free various to the chaos of LAX, JSX is providing a method fares as little as $149, together with taxes, cocktails, snacks, and two checked luggage. That even covers golf golf equipment and skis, in addition to planeside retrieval, which is a part of the JSX enchantment.
The actual twist is the airport itself. Santa Monica has one of many richest aviation histories within the nation. It’s amongst America’s oldest airports, the previous house of Douglas Plane, birthplace of each piston-powered DC airliner, and as soon as the busiest single-runway airport on Earth. Howard Hughes, Amelia Earhart, Wiley Put up, and Wallace Beery all known as it house. The primary Powder Puff Derby launched from its subject. It opened on 15 April 1923 and has been a basic aviation legend ever since.
However the runway is shorter now. In 2017, town reduce it from 4,925 toes to three,500 toes as a result of tensions with close by residents. The airport is formally scheduled to shut on 31 December 2028, ending a battle that dragged on for seven many years. Santa Monica metropolis officers stay adamant that nothing about JSX adjustments that timeline.
“Santa Monica Airport will shut on the finish of 2028, and nothing about this course of with JSX Air adjustments that truth,” stated Metropolis Supervisor Oliver Chi.
Santa Monica Airport will shut on the finish of 2028, and nothing about this course of with JSX Air adjustments that truth.
Oliver Chi | Santa Monica Metropolis Supervisor
Business airways are barred from working there, however that is the place JSX’s intelligent construction comes into play. JSX shouldn’t be categorised as a Half 121 airline. Its public constitution mannequin provides it entry whereas staying throughout the FAA’s guidelines. Critics have already filed lawsuits to cease the service earlier than it begins, although JSX argues that the ATR’s quiet operation straight addresses long-standing noise issues.
SMO’s days are numbered, however JSX seems decided to provide it one final act.
What JSX Brings to the Desk
JSX shouldn’t be your typical operator. Since launching in 2016 with flights between Burbank and Harmony, the provider has constructed a powerful following for its streamlined, semi-private “hop-on” expertise. It goes out of its approach to make sure it’s not known as an “airline.”
Vacationers can test in simply 20 minutes earlier than departure, skip lengthy traces, use non-public terminals, take pleasure in brilliant 30-seat cabins with enterprise class legroom, carry two checked luggage at no cost, and retrieve them planeside inside minutes of touchdown. Free cocktails assist too.
The provider was additionally the worldwide launch buyer for SpaceX’s Starlink inflight Wi-Fi and has supplied it free since 2023. The ATRs are scheduled to obtain Starlink functionality in early 2026.
With as much as 140 each day flights to 27 locations throughout the Southwest, Mountain West, Texas, Florida, New York, and Mexico, JSX has carved out an area few rivals dare to enter.
In 2019, we profiled the provider again in its JetSuiteX days, asking the query, “Will it final?” Effectively, not solely has it lasted, it’s thriving. In reality, the corporate reached one other milestone earlier this yr when it took supply of its fiftieth Embraer jet.
Will America Heat Again As much as the Turboprop?
That’s the huge query. For a lot of vacationers, turboprops evoke reminiscences of rattling ATRs, Sprint 8s, and Saab 340s from the Nineteen Eighties, Nineteen Nineties, and early 2000s. However the ATR 42-600 is a distinct machine. It’s quieter. It’s smoother. It burns much less gasoline. And in JSX’s palms, it’s dressed like a personal jet.
JSX hopes that airports like Telluride Regional Airport (TEX) in Colorado and Truckee Tahoe Airport (TKF) in California, each underserved and altitude-challenged, will profit from what turboprops do finest: brief runways, steep terrain, and excessive elevation efficiency. TKF is an ideal instance of the kind of airport JSX has its sights set on – underserved and void of any business service in any way.
Will prospects embrace it? Will the turboprop mount a comeback? Or will JSX stand alone as a contemporary operator in a jet-obsessed market?
We’ll discover out beginning in December when the primary SMO-LAS flights take to the air.
One factor is definite. JSX is as soon as once more zigging the place the remainder of the business zags, and that’s precisely what makes this provider fascinating to observe.
