JetBlue Drops More than a Dozen Routes, Mostly in Northeast

JetBlue is cutting 14 flights from its schedule, mostly in the Northeast, as the airline continues to deal with the ongoing unwinding of its Northeast Alliance with American Airlines, as well as the seemingly unending ATC staffing challenges that are impacting the U.S. aviation industry.

The cuts, which first broke on aviation data company Cirium and then confirmed by TPG, are focused in JetBlue’s Northeast corridor, mostly New York and Boston—13 out of the 14 cuts will be at JFK International and LaGuardia in New York or Boston’s Logan International Airport, including service to Washington D.C., Nashville, Denver, Cape Code, Jacksonville, and more.

The cuts most harshly impact Burlington, Vermont, where JetBlue will totally cease operations starting in January. JetBlue has been operating out of Patrick Leahy Burlington International Airport for more than two decades, and was responsible for 10% of all passenger flights into Burlington monthly.

The news was bad enough for the Vermont Congressional Delegation this week to call on JetBlue CEO Robin Hayes to reinstate the flights, with the delegation accusing JetBlue of leaving “rural American behind by abandoning this essential service” and citied the nearly $1 billion JetBlue received during the pandemic.

Outside of those flights, JetBlue is also dropping service from Los Angeles International to Charleston International Airport, along with its service from New Jersey’s Newark Liberty International Airport to Miami International Airport.

Even as its cutting its domestic schedule, JetBlue expanding internationally, a move that started with flights between New York and London in 2019, and has grown to include service to Amsterdam, Paris, and, most recently, Dublin and Edinburgh. The latter two will be JetBlue’s 5^th and 6^th international destinations and will kick off in Spring 2024.