JetBlue Airways, buoyed by its Northeast Alliance with American Airlines, today announced a bevy of expansion moves.
The airline plans to add seven new cities from its home bases in New York and Boston and will expand its schedules in existing markets. It will also more than triple its presence at New York’s newly refurbished LaGuardia Airport by next year.
“With the Northeast Alliance, we are finally able to give our customers in New York and Boston what they’ve been asking for years – more JetBlue service and more JetBlue low fares,” Scott Laurence, head of revenue and planning for JetBlue, said in a statement. “By connecting with American’s large customer base and international network, we can add new markets that we have been eying for many years. The alliance quite literally gives us room to grow as we get greater access to airports that we’ve been locked out of for years.”
New routes include San Antonio, launching in October of 2021; Puerto Vallarta, also launching in October; San Pedro Sula, Honduras’ Ramón Villeda Morales International Airport, launching in December; Kansas City International Airport; Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport; Vancouver International Airport; Asheville Regional Airport; and Charlotte-Douglas.
“Our global partnerships are designed to grow our network to benefit our customers, team members, and investors,” said Vasu Raja, American’s Chief Revenue Officer. “Since the inception of our partnership with JetBlue, we have committed to offering customers more flights, more destinations, and a better experience when traveling. We’re proud to deliver on those promises for our customers, not just in the Northeast, but throughout the entire American Airlines network, who now have greater access to the world.”
JetBlue also announced significant growth plans at LaGuardia Airport made possible by the Northeast Alliance. By the end of this year, JetBlue plans to operate more than two dozen daily departures and intends to more than double that number by summer 2022 with more than 50 daily departures.
