Many of you will have seen the news we posted last month regarding US carrier JetBlue and Amsterdam Schiphol.
Since autumn of last year JetBlue had been trying to gain slots for two transatlantic routes to the European hub.
But every time it applied to the Schiphol authorities it was rebuffed.
Now comes news that Schiphol has finally granted the slots for transatlantic service from both New York JFK and Boston.
However the slots have, initially, been granted only for a temporary period.
In other words they will be made available for the summer season only.
It is unclear whether JetBlue will be allowed to continue operations into the winter season.
One suspects it was the involvement of the US Department of Transportation (DOT) which made Schiphol change its mind.
I say that because it was a similar case when Norwegian wanted to launch Amsterdam-New York flights a few years ago.
Initially Schiphol refused to release the slots. Only when the European Commission got involved was home airline KLM obliged to hand over one of its slots.
As for JetBlue we do not have the schedules at present. Presumably the airline is working on timings and another marketing campaign.
The airline will be operating A321LRs on both routes.
Some of you may wonder why Schiphol, once a beacon of liberalisation in Europe, has been so difficult with new entrants.
The reason is because of its capacity cap – now extended to September 2024 as a result of the Netherlands government (which owns 70 per cent of Schiphol) and its recent environmental policies.
