As questions swirl about the way forward for Spirit Airways, JetBlue has been making a giant push within the finances airline’s yard. And it could simply be getting began.
Final week, JetBlue announced a major expansion at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood Worldwide Airport (FLL), ramping up service to Latin America and a handful of U.S. cities — together with a slew of routes Spirit serves.
Anticipate to see extra the place that got here from. “The guess we have made in [Fort] Lauderdale is a reasonably large guess,” JetBlue president Marty St. George stated, talking final week at an trade convention. “And we’ve extra stuff to return.”
To this point this 12 months, JetBlue has added 17 new routes out of FLL, and bolstered its flying to a dozen different cities. That features a considerably bigger presence within the Caribbean, Central America and South America.
All you must do is take a look at a map to see the expansion — take a look at what JetBlue’s worldwide route map out of FLL regarded like in January 2025, as proven by Cirium.
This is what it will appear like come January 2026 — St. Maarten, Honduras, Colombia, Aruba, Costa Rica, you identify it.
That southward growth is not over.
“There are quite a lot of locations south of Fort Lauderdale that we might prefer to fly,” St. George stated, addressing the Morgan Stanley Laguna Convention in California on Sept. 11.
All instructed, the airline expects to develop its departures out of Fort Lauderdale this winter by 38%, per Cirium information.
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And the provider sees the airport, going ahead, because the southeast counterpart to its huge hubs in New York and Boston — a 3rd “tentpole,” as St. George put it, to enhance John F. Kennedy Worldwide Airport (JFK) and Boston Logan Worldwide Airport (BOS).
Alternatives in Fort Lauderdale
That JetBlue is again to main development someplace exterior the Northeast is notable, after 2024 noticed the carrier pull back significantly in different components of the nation as a part of a collection of maneuvers meant to return the corporate to profitability.
The timing of the provider’s Fort Lauderdale strikes, although, isn’t any coincidence. JetBlue has lengthy wished extra gates at FLL.
The airport’s high provider — Spirit Airways — is now embroiled in chapter 11 bankruptcy for the second time in lower than a 12 months (and fewer than two years after its deliberate merger with JetBlue got here to a halt). Spirit has raised considerations about its long-term monetary viability, and lately started slashing flights from its network — opening up gate house in Fort Lauderdale within the course of.
“As our largest competitor there has began to [cut back] and by chance open up some gate capability for us,” St. George stated, “we’re making the most of it.”
So produce other rivals. United Airways lately announced a sizable Florida expansion, and Spirit’s low-cost competitor Frontier Airways will develop its wintertime departures out of FLL by 40%, Cirium information exhibits.
Earlier this month, Spirit instructed TPG the community strikes by different airways amounted to “wishful pondering” by rivals hoping to place the Dania Seaside-based provider out of enterprise.
Whatever the motives, JetBlue and others sense a giant development alternative — maybe a once-in-a-decade likelihood — to make a giant push in Fort Lauderdale, now maybe one of many airline trade’s largest flashpoints within the 12 months forward.
“We’re excited to welcome the brand new routes and/or elevated flight frequency that current carriers have introduced lately,” the Broward County Aviation Division, which oversees FLL, instructed TPG in a press release, noting the rise in “handy and cost-effective methods to go to and luxuriate in these locations” for enterprise and leisure vacationers alike.
FAQ: Spirit Airlines’ bankruptcy and how it might affect your travel
JetBlue’s future plans in Europe
On high of including new short-haul worldwide routes to Latin America, JetBlue can also be dropping hints about its future long-haul worldwide flights to Europe.
It was solely 4 years in the past the provider launched its first transatlantic flights to London. Then got here Paris, Amsterdam, Dublin, Edinburgh and Madrid. However whereas JetBlue is not ruling out one other European vacation spot, it’s anticipating its quick development trajectory throughout the pond to stage off.
The provider is simply slated to obtain two extra planes able to reaching Europe between now and 2031: “We’re nearly reaching the primary plateau of transatlantic development,” St. George stated.
Nonetheless, the provider stays bullish on its still-burgeoning Europe service.
That is very true after the provider started pulling again (some) on its transatlantic flights through the wintertime, as an alternative deploying these planes — equipped with its spiffiest Mint cabin — to standard warm-weather and snowboarding locations.
“That stability of excellent solar markets within the winter, after which the European markets in the summertime and fall, has made for a really, excellent revenue portfolio for us,” St. George stated.
Doubling down on premium Europe service
JetBlue’s long-haul Europe service will get a premium infusion on the bottom later this 12 months when the provider unveils its first airport lounge at JFK, providing entry to its Mint passengers taking these flights.
A second outpost will open subsequent 12 months at BOS.
Whereas the lounges will cater to JetBlue’s high-paying vacationers flying to Europe, there can be different methods for purchasers to achieve entry. The airline will provide membership entry to top-tier Mosaic 4 elite standing members, and TrueBlue loyalists who carry the provider’s new premium credit card.
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