JetBlue shares fall 15 pct as lock-up period ends = = = = Wednesday October 9, 4:08 PM EDT = NEW YORK, Oct 9 (Reuters) - Shares in JetBlue Airways Corp (JBLU) fell ov= er 15 percent amid a surge in trading as the so called lock-up period end= ed, allowing early shareholders to sell the stock. The stock fell $5.62, or 15.7 percent, to $30.15 in heavy Wednesday trade= , the lowest since it was priced at $27 last April 11 and surged by more = than 50 percent in its trading debut. Termination of the six-month lockup following airline's initial public of= fering frees venture capital backers and other early stage investors to s= ell close to 33 million shares, almost five times what was sold in the IP= O. Venture capital investors like J.P. Morgan New Air Investors LLC, Soros' = Quantum Industrial Partners LDC, and BancBoston Ventures Inc. acquired mo= re than half of the company's stock in late 1998 at $5.27 per share. = JetBlue spokesperson Amy Carpi wouldn't comment on whether backers like J= =2EP. Morgan Chase & Co (JPM) and financier George Soros sold their stock= =2E About 7.5 million JetBlue shares were traded on the Nasdaq stock market, = over twelve times the stock's average daily trading volume over the last = 30 days. Other U.S. carriers also saw big losses in heavy trading on Wednesday. Un= ited (UAL) shed 10.1 percent to close at $1.87 a share, Continental Airli= nes (CAL) slid nearly 18 percent to $3.65 and Northwest Airlines (NWAC) f= ell 9.8 percent to $5.14. American Airlines (AMR) dropped 15.3 percent to= $3.32 and Delta Air Lines (DAL) ended off 12 percent at $6.50. = =A92002 Reuters Limited. = Roger EWROPS