JetBlue is cutting more than a dozen routes across its network, significantly reducing connectivity in the Northeast.
As aviation data firm Cirium confirmed to Travel + Leisure on Tuesday, the route cuts are scheduled to take place between now and March, and will primarily affect the airline’s New York hub – where it first launched service at the turn of the millennium.
From JFK, JetBlue will end its thrice-daily service to Washington, D.C., in January. The route has been “highly requested” by customers, the airline said, and was launched less than a month ago in mid-September.
Also in January, JetBlue will discontinue service from Burlington, Vermont, where it has operated twice-daily flights to JFK since 2000. This route “accounts for 10 percent of all passengers flying into Burlington on a monthly basis,” the Vermont congressional delegation wrote in a letter expressing its disappointment to the airline’s CEO, Robin Hayes.
From LaGuardia, the airline will no longer fly to Bermuda, Cape Cod, Charleston, Denver, Jacksonville, Nashville, Portland, ME, and Sarasota. JetBlue will also cut service from Newark to Boston and Miami, and from Boston to Rochester.
“The writing was on the wall when the DOJ won its case against the Northeast Alliance with American Airlines,” said Mike Arnot, an airline analyst with Cirium, an aviation data company. “This will be felt across the Northeast, particularly in Burlington, Vermont, which will now be served by Delta and United to New York City area airports, but with the loss of lower-cost service provided by JetBlue. Losing service anywhere in the Northeast reduces capacity – the supply of seats – and will result in higher fares across this complex network.
These route adjustments came just before JetBlue’s earnings call, where the airline reported a net loss of $153 million for the third quarter, blaming weather challenges and rising fuel prices.
As the airline looks ahead to 2024, JetBlue continues to expand in Europe, announcing seasonal service to Dublin and Edinburgh just last week.
A representative for JetBlue did not immediately respond to T+L’s request for comment.