According to Travel & Leisure the route cuts will begin in June as the airline shrinks its operation out of Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). JetBlue is decreasing service at its west coast hub among other notable route adjustments — as it reassesses its network strategy following its unsuccessful Spirit merger.
The route cuts will begin in June as the airline shrinks its operation out of Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) to a mix of leisure destinations and regional flying: Cancun; Puerto Vallarta; Liberia, Costa Rica; Las Vegas; Miami; Reno-Tahoe; San Francisco; and Seattle. All told, JetBlue will reduce from 34 daily flights to 24 from LAX — a base it has served for 15 years. The airline will keep its cross-country routes to its Northeastern hubs and well-performing routes to Salt Lake City and Los Cabos, among others.
“JetBlue is constantly evaluating our routes to best serve our customers, return our airline to profitability, and find ways to improve our reliability,” a spokesperson for JetBlue told T+L. “As part of that process, we have decided to end some routes, make others seasonal, and exit five cities.” Along with the announcement, JetBlue will end operations out of Bogotá, Quito, Lima, and Kansas City due to underperformance. The airline also confirmed that it would not return to Newburgh, N.Y., which was last served before the pandemic.
“These moves will allow us to redeploy our fleet to increase frequencies on well-performing routes from JetBlue’s focus cities while continuing to increase crucial ground time for our aircraft, reducing the chance of delays for our customers,” the airline later shared. The changes will also help us during a time when aircraft availability is limited – particularly with some of our aircraft grounded due to Pratt & Whitney GTF engine inspections.”Passengers booked on these impacted routes will be offered alternative flights, or if not available, a full refund, the carrier confirmed.
These major network adjustments come weeks after JetBlue posted a $104 million net loss in its 2023 Q4 earnings call. The airline’s leaders hinted at a few revenue-generating initiatives, such as the increased baggage fees that were tacked on last month. The proposed Spirit merger, which was first announced in 2022, intended to create the nation’s fifth-largest airline but was ultimately blocked by a federal judge. Now, JetBlue has refocused its efforts on bringing the airline back on track to profitability.“We plan to continue to refine our network and product offering to better serve our leisure customers while diversifying revenues with margin-accretive initiatives,” JetBlue’s CEO, Joanna Geraghty, said in a statement.
