Ben Mutzabaugh

USA TODAY

JetBlue will add nonstop flights between Buffalo and Los Angeles, launching a new cross-country route that won't touch any of the airline’s hubs. The carrier will begin flying one daily round-trip fight starting June 16.

The new route has been viewed as something of a surprise among industry observers. Neither Buffalo nor Los Angeles is a hub for JetBlue, meaning the route’s success will hinge on finding enough passengers specifically seeking to fly between L.A. and Buffalo. Since JetBlue flies only a handful of routes from each city, it will not be able to rely on connecting fliers to help fill its planes between Buffalo and LAX.

BOOKMARK: Go directly to the Today in the Sky homepage

Buffalo will be JetBlue’s fourth destination from LAX. JetBlue also flies from LAX to its hubs in New York JFK, Boston and Fort Lauderdale.

From Buffalo, LAX will give JetBlue five nonstop destinations. The others – Boston, New York JFK, Fort Lauderdale and Orlando – are all hubs or focus cities for the carrier.

JetBlue unveils cabin overhaul for Airbus A320s

JetBlue adds two new cross-country routes

The westbound flight will depart Buffalo at 6:40 p.m. and land at LAX at 9:06 p.m., all times local. The return will be a red-eye, leaving LAX at 10:09 p.m. and landing in Buffalo at 6:05 a.m. the following morning.

Regardless of the details, the flights are a big win for the Buffalo/Niagara International Airport. Underscoring that is coverage of the story in The Buffalo News, which writes JetBlue’s new LAX route “could rank as some of the best flying news in a long time” for the city.

However, JetBlue will be counting on a fliers from neighboring Canada to help keep its new Buffalo-LAX route afloat.

ELSEWHERE ON THE WEB: JetBlue will fly between Buffalo and Los Angeles. But why? (BrianSumers blog)

ELSEWHERE ON THE WEB: JetBlue launches Buffalo-LAX flights; cheap fuel to thank? (Wandering Aramean blog)

Buffalo sits just across the Niagara River from a portion of southern Ontario that is one of Canada’s most-densely populated regions. By car, Buffalo/Niagara International is only about 100 miles from downtown Toronto and just 70 from Hamilton – Canada’s ninth-largest metro area.

Buffalo’s airport has long benefited from Canadian travelers, who often face significantly higher fares on flights to U.S. cities on their side of the border. Close to half of Buffalo’s passenger traffic in recent years has come from Canadians seeking cheaper U.S. flights from the American side of the border.

JetBlue is clearly hoping that trend will continue, even as a strong U.S. dollar has made flying from the USA more expensive for Canadians. JetBlue also touted relatively short security lines at Buffalo as opposed to Toronto's Pearson International Airport, where security queues and "pre-clearance" customs and immigration checks for U.S. flights can become lengthy. Canadians flying from Buffalo still must clear customs and immigration at highway border crossings into the United States.

"The Canadian customers are tired of paying very high fares and having to wait a long time to process through Pearson," JetBlue CEO Robin Hayes says to Time Warner Cable News. "This is a great airport. It's on their doorstep. The wait times are much less and the fares are much lower."

Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer also was on hand at Monday’s press announcement, touting the new route from his home state. He too offered a sales pitch to bargain-seeking Canadian fliers.

"We are telling Canada residents when you want to fly to California, don't do it out of Toronto,” Schumer is quoted as saying by WFBO radio of Buffalo. “Get in your car, take the short ride to Buffalo and fly here. That's going to be huge in bringing more Canadians here. When they come here regularly, they shop in our stores and eat food in our restaurants and it's great for our economy.”

Fares: Buffalo vs. Toronto

JetBlue CEO Hayes and New York Sen. Schumer each tried to lure Canadians by touting cheaper fares from the U.S. side of the border. So how do fares stack up between Toronto and Buffalo? Today in the Sky took an unscientific look at fares to LAX from both Buffalo and Toronto.

The search included three sets of fares on a Thursday-Monday round-trip itinerary. The first search is for mid-May, prior to the launch of JetBlue's Buffalo-LAX route. The second is for mid-July, about a month after JetBlue's new route begins. The third is for December, when demand for warm-weather destinations starts to build from Canada. Here's what the three sample searches returned:

- May: A round-trip flight from Toronto to LAX was going for $446 with one stop for a May 12 departure and a May 16 return, according to a Monday evening search Kayak.com. The fare jumped to $491 for nonstop flights. A one-stop flight from Buffalo on the same dates was available for $340. There are currently no nonstop options. Still, that's a savings of about $100 per person -- thought it's worth noting that CDN $1 is currently worth about 71 U.S. cents, based on the current exchange rate.

- July: Move those same itineraries ahead to mid-July – about a month after JetBlue’s flights begin – and the fares from Toronto drop considerably.

JetBlue’s Buffalo-LAX nonstop was selling for $317 round-trip for a July 14-18 itinerary. That compared to $325 from Toronto for the same dates. It was unclear if Canadian carriers were attempting to match JetBlue’s fares or if the lower Toronto fares reflected declining seasonal demand between Toronto and warm-weather destinations during the summer.

- December: The cheapest flights from Toronto to LAX for a Dec. 8-12 itinerary were going for $490 nonstop. From Buffalo, the cheapest one-stop itinerary for the same dates was $342 -- a savings of about $150. JetBlue's schedule does not yet extend into December, meaning its nonstop Buffalo-LAX flights are not yet available to purchase for the Dec. 8-12 itinerary.

TWITTER: You can follow me at twitter.com/TodayInTheSky