[AMcWhirter]

Readers planning to fly transatlantic with Jet Blue this coming winter will be disappointed.

Reports from the US say that:

* Jet Blue will suspend flights from LGW to both BOS and JFK in the winter timetable.

* In addition the carrier’s twice daily CDG-JFK service will now operate once daily this winter.

Former CEO Robin Hayes, who was responsible for transatlantic expansion, retired last February.

It would appear that new CEO Joanna Geraghty has decided to suspend uneconomical flights for the coming winter season.

London Heathrow flights are unaffected.

[BackOfThePlane]

Thank god for Global Airlines…..oh.

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red_robbo

[AMcWhirter]

So far Jet Blue has yet to inform UK media.

But Jet Blue has confirmed the schedule changes to US media.

In particular Cirium notes that the cuts over the three routes mean that Jet Blue will lose 6,000 seats a week from its transatlantic schedule.

Says Skift, “The bigger question is this: Are cuts to Jet Blue’s previously advertised year-round flights a sign of weak bookings, or an agile company that isn’t afraid to make bold decisions ?”

Jet Blue confirms that the suspended services will restart in March 2025.

[AndrewinHK]

JetBlue always seems agile and astute to me, transatlantic yield over the winter is lower, and they can position the aircraft to winter sun and transcontinental US routes where domestic capacity is constrained in part due to MAX issues, and fares should hold up.

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cwoodward

[AMcWhirter]

Yes AndrewinHK that’s exactly what Jet Blue has done.

When the former CEO was in charge the Gatwick routes were billed as being all year round but the new CEO is prepared to suspend routes which would underperform during the winter months. Gatwick is the loser.

As might be expected Jet Blue trumpets the new routes but officially stays silent on the suspensions.

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AndrewinHK

[Rferguson2]

It could be a clever strategy of leveraging its resources effectively – serving european destinations during the european summer and then moving these aircraft to leisure destinations from the USA during the winter. Jetblue has coincidentally announced its flat bed MINT product as launching on several new regional US routes during the winter – NYC – YVR, FLL – LAS, BOS – PHX, FLL – PHX, JFK – PHX.

It will be interesting to see whether the transatlantic routes recommence in 2025. There are a couple issues I see for JetBlue’s operation.

1) they are up against some of the strongest Joint Venture Agreements in the industry. BA/AA from LHR to the USA, KL/DL from AMS – USA and AF/DL from CDG to USA.

2) the fares from LGW were not particularly competitive.

3) Whilst the onboard product was fantastic from a passenger POV the A321 is a poor choice for cracking the profitable cargo market.

[nevereconomy]

I suppose the test will be whether the route resumes in the Spring…AA has a host of Summer only European destinations, so they must just be savvy with this move.

[BackOfThePlane]

While I will continue to joke about Global Airlines, I guess we should assume that they will finally get something in the air for April 2025. If that ‘something’ is a flight between Gatwick and New York, well, that is an awful lot of (potentially very distressed) added capacity that Jet Blue will want to take account of.

[Harbord1]

This lack of commitment to the London market will be disastrous from a corporate travel perspective. Business travellers (and their agents) most value a frequent schedule, a reliable service and excellent puntuality. Why would any corporate commit their travellers to Jet Blue if their flying programme is on/off. They will be able to operate a summer service but can expect only low yield leisure traffic.

[BackOfThePlane]

As per the original post, Jet Blue flights to Heathrow are unaffected, it is just Gatwick (which is primarily leisure focused) that is being suspended.

[AMcWhirter]

Suspension of LGW comes as a surprise considering former CEO had indicated it would be a year-round service. Also it’s not as if Jet Blue is deploying large capacity aircraft on the transatlantic this winter … a time when airlines expect to lose money.

Jet Blue is currently loss-making and I suppose shifting capacity to other routes is a way to minimise losses (at the expense of annoying some customers).

Routes to DUB and EDI are seasonal so will operate during summer 2024.

Aeroroutes.com has listed those transatlantic routes which Jet Blue intends to operate for the coming winter schedule.

https://www.aeroroutes.com/eng/240513-b6nw24eu

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