JetBlue Airways announced to its employees on Wednesday that it’s canceling more unprofitable flights, redeploying aircraft with its high-quality business class equipment and optimizing European service. These are the airline's latest moves to return to consistent profitability and reduce costs.
Starting in April, Mint business class aircraft will not be used on flights to Seattle.
JetBlue said it could cut flights from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to Jacksonville, Florida; from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport to Austin, Texas; Houston, Texas; Miami; and Milwaukee, Wis.; and from Westchester, NY and Milwaukee. Additionally, service to San Jose, California will likely be discontinued.
JetBlue said suspending service between JFK and Miami will leave the airline overstaffed in Miami and that it’s working with crew members on options akin to working in other cities it serves.
“Florida remains a strong geographic region for JetBlue, however we were not profitable following the COVID-19 crisis in Miami due to the dominance of traditional airlines such as… American And delta there,” wrote Dave Jehn, vp of network planning and airline partnerships at JetBlue, in a staff memo seen by CNBC.
Miami continues to be served from Boston.
JetBlue will announce recent European service next week, the memo said. But starting with the 2025 summer travel season, the corporate will discontinue its second JFK-Paris flight and its summer-only flight between New York and London's Gatwick Airport, Jehn said.
The changes were announced after JetBlue said its sales and bookings for November and December were higher than expected, sending shares up greater than 8% on Wednesday. CEO Joanna Geraghty and her team are focused on cutting costs and eliminating unprofitable routes, akin to on the West Coast, as they contend with a Pratt & Whitney engine failure and shifts in demand following the pandemic.
JetBlue said customers affected by the changes will have the ability to decide on alternative flight options or receive a refund if other routes are unavailable.
“We recently made some network adjustments in certain markets and eliminated some underperforming flights from our schedule, allowing us to reallocate resources, including our popular Mint service, to high-demand markets and new opportunities,” JetBlue said in an announcement.
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