Silhouette of a passenger in front of the JetBlue Airbus A321neo aircraft spotted on the apron tarmac docked at the passenger jet bridge from the terminal of Amsterdam Schiphol International Airport AMS EHAM in the Netherlands.
Nicholas Economou | Photo only | Getty Images
JetBlue Airways announced to its employees on Wednesday that it is 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 no longer be used on flights to Seattle.
JetBlue said it would 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 be discontinued.
JetBlue said suspending service between JFK and Miami will leave the airline overstaffed in Miami and that it is working with crew members on options such as working in other cities it serves.
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“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, vice president 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 new European service next week, the memo said. But starting with the 2025 summer travel season, the company 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 better than expected, sending shares up more than 8% on Wednesday. CEO Joanna Geraghty and her team are focused on cutting costs and eliminating unprofitable routes, such as 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 be able to choose 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 a statement.
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