JetBlue Airways, which rocked its competitors by offering cut-rate flights out of New York City, is gearing up to introduce a jet that may again shake up the airline industry.

The 100 seat Embraer 190 regional jet will begin commercial flights in November, allowing JetBlue to expand into new, mid-sized markets from its New York hub.

JetBlue will have seven of the Brazilian-made Embraers in service by the end of the year, and 43 by the end of 2007, giving the airline a second equipment type alongside its larger Airbus A320 jets.

"The 100 seater allows you economics where you can get some low fares out there," JetBlue founder and Chief Executive David Neeleman said in an interview. "They're going to be everywhere."

The airline may serve destinations like Raleigh and Greensboro in North Carolina and Richmond, Virginia -- cities now serviced by less-comfortable 50 seat regional jets with walk-up fares of up to USD$700, he said.

Neeleman said JetBlue would offer fares about one third of that price.

"You've got to be pretty excited about that," he said.

Flights linking New York and Boston are also a possibility, especially with the recent brake problems experienced by Amtrak's high-speed Acela trains, Neeleman said.

Analysts agree that the Embraer 190, for which JetBlue was the launch customer, could further boost the airline's advantage over established carriers -- expected to lose billions of dollars this year even as JetBlue maintains its unbroken profit streak.

"I think it's going to be a grand slam home run," Ray Neidl, an analyst for Calyon Securities said of the new planes' introduction.

He said they would help JetBlue service smaller markets where it might have trouble filling its existing 156 seat A320s and would lure away passengers uncomfortable in rivals' more cramped 50 seat regional jets.

The two-to-a-side seating on the planes may be particularly attractive to passengers leery of being squeezed into the middle seat in a three-abreast row, he said.

Like JetBlue's A320s, the planes will be equipped with leather seats and in-flight satellite TV and radio.

Neeleman expects the airline to be able to turn a profit even if fuel prices surge beyond the records which have hit other airlines. But energy costs have taken their toll. JetBlue will miss its target operating margin target in the "mid-teens" on a percentage basis, he said.