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Tag: jetblue airways

  • JetBlue adding 9 new routes to this Florida airport, all fares on sale starting at $113

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    JetBlue Airways is the latest ultra-low-cost airline to expand its presence in South Florida, with nine new destinations coming to the Fort Lauderdale airport starting in November.

    “As the top airline in Fort Lauderdale, with more departures than any other carrier on peak travel days, JetBlue is proud to keep raising the bar for customers in South Florida and to continue bringing them to the places they want to go,” said Dave Jehn, JetBlue’s vice president, network planning and airline partnerships, said in a Sept. 10 release.

    The announcement comes as another low-cost airline, Dania Beach-based Spirit, drops 11 cities from its network in an effort to refocus on key markets, such as its hub in Fort Lauderdale. Spirit recently filed for bankruptcy for the second time in a year and other airlines have been quick to move in, with Frontier Airlines announcing 42 new routes just days later, many of them in South Florida.

    JetBlue’s new routes include destinations in New Orleans and Pittsburgh, as well as Aruba, Grand Cayman, St. Maarten, Honduras, Costa Rica and more. There is also a flight to a brand new destination for the airline, Cali, Colombia.

    The airline will also be increasing service on nine existing routes.

    JetBlue offers low fares for any Fort Lauderdale flight this fall

    To celebrate the estimated 113 peak daily flights the airline said it will be making from Fort Lauderdale by winter, the airline is offering one-way fares starting at $113 from Fort Lauderdale to any of the 46 nonstop destinations JetBlue will service this fall.

    You must book by Sept. 10 for travel between Sept. 24 to Dec. 17, 2025. Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday travel only, and some blackout dates apply.

    What are JetBlue’s new flights in Florida?

    Flights to/from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL) include:

    • Cali, Colombia (CLO), new route starting date and frequency to be announced

    • Aruba (AUA), new route starting Dec. 4, 2025, 3x weekly, year-round

    • Cartagena, Colombia (CTG), new route starting Dec. 4, 2025, 4x weekly, year-round

    • Grand Cayman (GCM), new route starting Dec. 4, 2025, 3x weekly, year-round

    • Liberia, Costa Rica (LIR), new route starting Dec. 4, 2025, 1x weekly, year-round

    • New Orleans, La. (MSY), new route starting Nov. 1, 2025, 2x weekly, year-round

    • Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (PIT), new route starting Nov. 1, 2025, 1x weekly, year-round

    • San Pedro Sula, Honduras (SAP), new route starting Dec. 4, 2025, 4x weekly, year-round

    • St. Maarten (SXM), new route starting Dec. 4, 2025, 4x weekly, year-round

    • Atlanta (ATL), increased service to 3x daily starting Nov. 1, 2025

    • Hartford, Conn. (BDL), increased service to 2-3x daily starting Nov. 1, 2025

    • Boston, Massachusetts (BOS), increased service to 6x daily (up to 10x daily over peak) starting Nov. 1, 2025

    • Cancún, Mexico (CUN), increased service to 3x daily starting Dec. 5, 2025

    • Kingston, Jamaica (KIN), increased service to 2-3x daily (up to 5-6x over peak) starting Dec. 4, 2025

    • Punta Cana, Dominican Republic (PUJ), increased service to 1-2x daily starting Dec. 4, 2025

    • San José, Costa Rica (SJO), increased service to 2x daily (up to 3x over peak) starting Dec. 4, 2025

    • San Juan, Puerto Rico (SJU), increased service to 6x daily (up to 7x over peak) starting Nov. 2, 2025

    • Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic (STI), increased service to 1x daily year-round starting Dec. 4, 2025

    JetBlue expanding service in South Florida

    The airline has been making an effort to grow in South Florida, although JetBlue pulled out of Miami International Airport as of Sept. 3 due to low performance.

    In April, JetBlue announced new service from FLL to Guayaquil, Ecuador, and Philadelphia and announced new service to Atlanta, Austin, Norfolk and Tampa in July. In June, JetBlue partnered with Florida’s privately owned passenger rail service Brightline to allow travelers to book both a plane and train trip directly on jetblue.com as part of a combined itinerary.

    JetBlue also recently announced a return to Daytona Beach after an absence of nearly seven years.

    What Florida airports does JetBlue service?

    This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: JetBlue adds 9 US, Latin America, Caribbean flights to Fort Lauderdale

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  • No-frills pioneer Spirit Airlines seeks second bankruptcy in months

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      (CNN) — U.S. no-frills pioneer Spirit Airlines filed for fresh Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Friday, as dwindling cash and mounting losses derailed its turnaround efforts since emerging from a previous Chapter 11 reorganization in March.

    The carrier, recognizable by its bright yellow jets, has struggled to steady operations since emerging from its first bankruptcy in March.

    Flights, ticket sales, reservations and operations will continue, the airline said on Friday.

    Spirit had been attempting to rebrand as a more premium airline to keep pace with post-pandemic travel trends that have challenged the viability of the ultra-low-cost model.

    But Spirit’s recovery was further hit by uncertainty from President Donald Trump’s tariffs and budget cuts, which have cooled consumer spending and driven down domestic airfares.

    The airline was forced to raise going-concern doubts earlier this month.

    “Since emerging from our previous restructuring, which was targeted exclusively on reducing Spirit’s funded debt and raising equity capital, it has become clear that there is much more work to be done and many more tools are available to best position Spirit for the future,” said CEO Dave Davis.

    The Florida-based airline first sought bankruptcy protection last November after years of losses, failed merger bids and mounting debt, becoming the first major U.S. carrier to do so since 2011.

    It posted a $1.2 billion net loss last year, with its troubles compounded by the collapse of a $3.8 billion merger with JetBlue Airways and RTX’s Pratt & Whitney engine issues that forced it to ground many of its Airbus jets.

    Spirit began in 1964 as a long-haul trucking company before shifting to aviation in the 1980s, initially flying leisure packages under the name Charter One Airlines.

    It rebranded as Spirit in 1992 and built its reputation as a discount carrier for budget-conscious travelers willing to skip extras like checked bags and seat assignments.

    But the pandemic upended that model, as demand shifted toward more comfortable, experience-driven travel, leaving ultra-low-cost carriers struggling to adapt.

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    Story by Reuters

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  • Spirit Airlines Stock Gets a Downgrade. It’s the Least of the Carrier’s Problems.

    Spirit Airlines Stock Gets a Downgrade. It’s the Least of the Carrier’s Problems.

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    Spirit Airlines stock was falling again Thursday as the ultra-low-cost carrier’s predicament worsened.

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  • Spirit Airlines finds itself with few options after judge blocks deal with JetBlue

    Spirit Airlines finds itself with few options after judge blocks deal with JetBlue

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    By Rajesh Kumar Singh

    CHICAGO (Reuters) – Spirit Airlines faces tough choices about its future including looking for another buyer and finding other ways to shore up its finances after a federal judge on Tuesday blocked its $3.8 billion merger deal with JetBlue Airways, industry experts said.

    The ultra low-cost carrier has been struggling to return to sustainable profitability amid rising operating costs and persistent supply-chain problems. That has raised concerns about the company’s ability to repay its debt that is due to mature next year.

    The airline this month completed a series of sale and leaseback transactions covering dozens of planes in a bid to repay about $465 million of debt on those jets.

    But with a recovery in earnings not in sight, some analysts said the company might consider a bankruptcy filing to clean up its balance sheet and reorganize into a financially stronger airline.

    Helane Becker, airline analyst at TD Cowen, said Spirit is likely to look for another buyer, but that a more likely scenario is a Chapter 11 filing, followed by a liquidation. She said the recent capital raise has given the company funds to self-finance a potential Chapter 11 filing.

    “We recognize this sounds alarmist and harsh,” Becker said. “But the reality is we believe there are limited scenarios that enable Spirit to restructure.”

    The airline is expected to burn cash over the next several years and will have to continue to raise capital to survive, said Conor Cunningham, an analyst at Melius Research.

    “The path forward for Spirit turns to survivability,” Cunningham said.

    Asked to comment, a Spirit spokesperson referred to the company’s recent capital raise but did not elaborate. The company had no other immediate comment.

    The airline has been among the carriers hardest hit by a snag with RTX’s Pratt & Whitney Geared Turbofan (GTF) engines. It is the largest operator of GTF-powered aircraft in the United States.

    As a result, it had to ground a number of planes last year. The number of grounded planes is estimated to climb steadily in 2024, from 13 in January to 41 in December.

    Meanwhile, excess industry capacity in its key markets is hurting its pricing power, forcing the company to indulge in promotional activity with steep discounting to fill up its planes.

    After its third-quarter earnings last October, Florida-based Spirit said it was evaluating its growth profile as it faced softer demand.

    Analysts at Seaport Research Partners downgraded the company’s shares after the court’s ruling, citing “the lack of a credible path to profitability.”

    Spirit’s woes had led to a sell-off in its stock, raising worries about the impact on JetBlue’s balance sheet after the merger. With Spirit’s shares losing nearly half of their value since JetBlue won its takeover battle, some analysts wondered if that would prompt JetBlue to renegotiate the terms of the deal.

    Spirit’s shares plunged 47% on Tuesday after the court’s ruling, while JetBlue’s shares gained about 5%.

    Another option would be to find a way to placate the Justice Department’s competition concerns created by the JetBlue deal. The judge who presided over the case had at one point questioned whether further asset divestitures would allow the deal to pass muster. But a lawyer for the U.S. Justice Department said the only remedy was “a full-stop injunction that would restore competition.”

    Analysts also raised the possibility that rival Frontier Airlines, which had lost out in a fierce bidding war, could again make a bid.

    Bill Franke, whose airline-focused private equity firm Indigo Partners owns 82% of Frontier, had not ruled out making a fresh bid for Spirit if the transaction with JetBlue failed to close. Frontier declined to comment.

    “Spirit has to figure out its Plan C,” said Henry Harteveldt, founder of travel consultancy Atmosphere Research Group. “Plan A was to merge with Frontier, Plan B became a merger with JetBlue.”

    (Reporting by Rajesh Kumar Singh in Chicago; Editing by Chris Sanders and Matthew Lewis)

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  • JetBlue blames ‘staggering’ weather and air traffic control delays for a terrible quarter that sent its stock plunging as much as 19%

    JetBlue blames ‘staggering’ weather and air traffic control delays for a terrible quarter that sent its stock plunging as much as 19%

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    JetBlue Airways’ shares tumbled the most since the early days of the pandemic after the carrier forecast a worse-than-expected loss and said it would trim flying, citing constraints ranging from air traffic control limits to too many seats for sale across the industry.

    The adjusted loss in the fourth quarter will be 35 to 55 cents a share, the company said in a statement Tuesday. That compares to an average 21-cent deficit projected by analysts in estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

    “While we have been able to offset some of the cost associated with the challenging operational backdrop, the sheer magnitude of the air traffic control and weather-related delays has been staggering,” Chief Financial Officer Ursula Hurley said in the statement.

    The comments show how some US carriers have been hit worse than others by a shortage of air traffic personnel and flying limits at several major airports in the northeast US to help ease congestion. The industry is also grappling with waning domestic demand, aircraft delivery delays and parts shortages, while some mid-sized carriers are cutting fares to help fill their planes.

    JetBlue’s “results confirm our view that US domestic-market capacity has outpaced demand, putting fares — particularly leisure — under pressure,” George Ferguson, a Bloomberg Intelligence analyst, said in a note. The airline said its average fare slumped 12.3% last quarter.

    Its shares plunged as much as 19% Tuesday in New York, the biggest intraday decline since March 2020. The stock pared the decline to 12% as of 1:18 p.m.

    JetBlue expects to cut flying capacity in the first quarter from the prior year’s level as it shifts operations away from the US market and toward more-popular international routes. The carrier recently began flights to Amsterdam, in addition to existing service to London and Paris from New York and Boston, and announced plans for seasonal flying to Dublin and Edinburgh starting next year.

    It recently ended service to two cities and said it would “meaningfully” reduce flying at New York’s LaGuardia Airport, where demand has been slower to recover than it expected, moving it to higher demand areas like the Caribbean. Business travel remains about 20% below pre-pandemic levels.

    Six JetBlue aircraft are currently grounded for inspections and repairs linked to a manufacturing defect in geared turbofan engines made by RTX Corp.’s Pratt & Whitney. That number may increase to the low double digits by the end of next year, the airline said.

    Revenue in the fourth quarter will decline in a range of 6.5% to 10.5% from 2022, JetBlue said, missing expectations. The carrier also cut its forecast for full-year earnings and sales growth.

    Air traffic disruptions are expected to continue “for the foreseeable future,” Chief Operating Officer Joanna Geraghty said on a conference call.

    The carrier had a third-quarter adjusted loss of 39 cents a share, worse than the 28-cent loss expected by analysts. Revenue was about $2.4 billion, roughly in line with estimates.

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    Mary Schlangenstein, Bloomberg

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  • Meta, Bank of America, Affirm, AmEx, JetBlue, and More Stock Market Movers

    Meta, Bank of America, Affirm, AmEx, JetBlue, and More Stock Market Movers

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    https://www.barrons.com/articles/stock-market-movers-3beb512f

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  • FAA is investigating a close call between 2 aircraft at Boston Logan | CNN

    FAA is investigating a close call between 2 aircraft at Boston Logan | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Air traffic controllers stopped a departing private jet from running into a JetBlue flight as it was coming in to land Monday night in Boston, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

    The FAA says it is investigating the incident. This is the fifth close call involving a commercial airliner on a runway this year.

    The two planes involved in Monday night’s apparent close call at Boston Logan International Airport came within 565 feet (172 meters) of colliding, according to Flightradar24’s preliminary review of its data.

    Asked for comment on the Flightradar24 analysis, the agency told CNN, “The FAA will determine the closest proximity between the two aircraft as part of the investigation.”

    “According to a preliminary review, the pilot of a Learjet 60 took off without clearance while JetBlue Flight 206 was preparing to land on an intersecting runway,” the FAA said in a statement on Tuesday.

    “JetBlue 206, go around,” said the controller in Boston Logan’s tower, according to recordings archived by LiveATC.net.

    The FAA says its air traffic controller told the crew of the Learjet to “line up and wait” on Runway 9 as the JetBlue Embraer 190 approached the intersecting Runway 4 Right.

    “The Learjet pilot read back the instructions clearly but began a takeoff roll instead,” the FAA said in a statement. “The pilot of the JetBlue aircraft took evasive action and initiated a climb-out as the Learjet crossed the intersection.”

    The National Transportation Safety Board tells CNN it has not launched an investigation into the incident at Boston Logan, though it has investigated four other runway incursions involving commercial airliners at major US airports this year.

    On Friday, the agency announced it was investigating a possible “runway incursion” in Burbank, California, involving Mesa and SkyWest regional airliners.

    Three other incidents have occurred at Honolulu, Austin and New York’s JFK airport this year.

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  • Fire on board a JetBlue plane forces the evacuation of more than 160 passengers at New York’s JFK airport | CNN

    Fire on board a JetBlue plane forces the evacuation of more than 160 passengers at New York’s JFK airport | CNN

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    CNN
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    A fire on board a JetBlue Airways plane forced more than 160 passengers to evacuate using emergency slides at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport on Saturday, fire department officials said.

    The incident – which happened shortly after the flight from Barbados landed at the airport – may have started due to an electronic device and is under investigation, according to JetBlue.

    “On Saturday, JetBlue flight 662 with service from Bridgetown, Barbados (BGI) was evacuated shortly after landing at New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport (JFK) due to reports of a customer’s malfunctioning electronic device or battery,” company spokesperson Derek Dombrowski said in a statement to CNN.

    The New York City Fire Department reported a plane fire around 9 p.m. at the airport’s Terminal 5, saying the regional Port Authority agency evacuated the JetBlue plane.

    A total of 167 people were evacuated using emergency slides, the FDNY said. Five passengers had minor injuries.

    “Safety is always our number one priority,” Dombrowski said, adding JetBlue is coordinating with officials from the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board.

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