Destination Discussion
 

I'm hoping this thread turns into a greater discussion of JetBlue destinations and overall network strategy (or the lack thereof).

Posting about ANC recently got me thinking. I was just looking at the list of destinations, and once MEX and Cuba (excluding HAV) are gone, come April they will only serve 101 cities. I don't honestly expect PTP to last long, considering it isn't served from anywhere in the continental US (they do have turboprop service to SJU). If any other cities close, it would take them under 100 destinations. That would be pretty embarrassing. For the majority of January 2020 they will actually be at 99.

-J.

I think their lack of new cities lately is tied to lack of aircraft. Once the NEO's start coming more frequently and the A220's ramp up we will definitely see some growth.

I love the BNA-FLL route. Its my favorite way to get to South Florida from Nashville. Its a comfortable plane and a great alternative to Southwest's non stop or AA to MIA.

I fly the BNA-BOS route regularly and it is usually competitive with Southwest and Delta on that route.

I would love to see a BNA-JFK route. I would love to see Jet Blue expand in Nashville, but I am not sure that is a big part of their strategy.

2021 is the big year. That's when Europe happens.

Selfishly, I want to see them start feeder service out of Manchester NH. I live close to that airport but have to go to Boston to fly my favorite airline. Along those same lines, I'd like to see some kind of service to Indianapolis since my mom lives there and it would be nice to not have to either drive 1100 miles or fly an awful airline's commuter service. I don't expect to see the latter.

Selfishly, I’d love to see FDF instead of PTP (husband is French and has distant relatives in Martinique - we loved the Norwegian flights for the few years they ran). Would also love to see NYC-MSP even though that won’t help with the destination count since they fly it out of BOS already.

I don't find sub-100 destinations to be a real negative because it'll only be for about 18 month. As mentioned, Europe is the big jump. Very excited to burn my miles for some narrowbody flights to LGW and ORY

It will be interesting to see how they expand into Europe for sure. I have my own conspiracy theories about it (which shockingly have so far been completely accurate). There are a number of glaring holes in the domestic network that could be an easy fix (more service from MSP and BNA, as examples) once the A220s start coming in.

-J.

I think ptp will stick around for a while because they are pretty desperate to have the JFK flight after Norwegian quit on that route. I would not be shocked if JetBlue got subsidies here. It would not be surprising for me if now gets added later on a seasonal Saturday only kind of flight. It was announced kind of late, so I figured a lot of it came together in the last minute. We will probably see a longer season next year. They have plenty of open slots at JFK in the winter season. The threshold to keeping this route around is not super high.

As for flights like JFK bna or msp, they could all work, but JFK slots are quite tight in the peak summer season. These would require year round slots at a time when they need to find slots for tatl flights. Unless they get more slots or JFK loses slot constraints, I don't see them adding more within perimeter routes out of JFK. Flights to pwm and btv are obvious cuts if they need to find some for European flights.
After most recent schedule extension, Boston will be up close to 15% more flights and probably 25% asm next summer over this summer. Huge growth. JFK will have even more flights than last summer even with slot tightness. And they are adding more flights to Newark and White plains. I would love to see more growth at new York. But given their slot constraints, they are already growing a lot by switching short range e90 flights for long range a321 flights. And that's before all the a220 and a321lr join fleet. That will probably usher in more possibilities.


For the past 2 years, they have been trying to control costs and steady the ship. Now they have done that and a220 is going to arrive late next year. After that, there will be a lot more places they can add.

Aside from Europe, I would think a220 allows for sna and eyw to be added. I would love to see some skiing flights out of JFK in the winter or JFK bzn in summer time. And I am sure there will be more Latin American destination opened up by a321neo from JFK. The only limit is the lack of slots. Maybe aa will be willing to sell.

Please be BOS-BSL by operated A321LR aircraft. I would considered to fly nonstop flight from PHX-LAS/LGB/MCO/TPA.

I really hope to expanded PHX in a few years. All I can see second daily PHX-FLL during daytime flight. I hear PHX-FLL is doing pretty good. We have more room at PHX T3S concourse. Can they becomes PHX focus city? Can they add more nonstop flight from PHX-HNL/SNA/SAN/LAX, PHX-BZN/BOI/SEA/BUR/ONT/SJC and a few other specific routes, as well.

PHX will never become a focus city because of intense competition by AA and WN. A second frequency on any of the existing routes would require a second shift for the airport workers. SLC got a second JFK because they have LGB flights coming in since the morning (they have three daily shifts). I highly doubt PHX will get it; that said, BUR did (but BUR-BOS is a daytime flight).

I don't think BSL is on Jetblue's radar. As of now they have announced interest in London, Paris, Amsterdam, Dublin, Lisbon, and Madrid.

-J.

I'm surprised that CVG isn't on their radar.

I have always been told it was because the demand isn't there, at least not beyond the existing OAL flights. CVG seems to have experienced somewhat of a revival in the last few years (not nearly to what it used to be, but more so than in say circa 2012. I have no evidence to back this up, but I know Frontier opened up some routes earlier this year.

-J.

JetBlue seemed to like to attack OAL focus cities and hubs, even if they do a half-hearted attempt (for example HOU/IAH and DFW). CVG was the logical last one that they haven't attempted.

I don't know if I'd call it an attack with a single BOS/JFK from IAH and a single BOS from DFW. They have avoided MIA altogether. They are actually pulling JFK from CLT next year in favor of more BOS frequencies, though I think less of that traffic is O&D versus Texas.

-J.

They actually already pulled out of JFK-CLT since the end of Oct. You can still get there but you have to connect in BOS. I was tracking that because I have some family in Charlotte I had been meaning to visit for the longest. So I made sure I went down before they ended the nonstop route.

If it was just me traveling, I wouldn’t mind dealing with a layover in BOS but traveling with a small child = no bueno.