Expecting a Demand Surge, JetBlue Adds More Thanksgiving Flights

JetBlue late last week announced that it would be expanding its service over the Thanksgiving holiday because of a pickup in demand that it expects from some of its key markets.

JetBlue will add 25 additional flights between Nov. 20 and Nov. 30, mostly from airports around the New York Area.

Additional flights include service from New York (JFK) to Los Angeles, Port-au-Prince, Santo Domingo, San Francisco, San Juan, and Santiago; service from Newark to Ft. Lauderdale, Orlando, Fort Myers, and Tampa; and service from Westchester County to Ft. Lauderdale and Orlando.

“As we head toward the holidays, we’re seeing signs of strong demand in certain markets. To help get more customers to their destinations and capture more revenue during this important time of year, we are adding additional flights over Thanksgiving weekend,” said Scott Laurence, head of revenue and planning.

Those flights will all fly with capped capacity, too—JetBlue last week said it will continue limiting seats sold on each flight into early 2021, citing the importance of “customer perception” amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

“Our view is that over the course of time the seat caps will go, but right now it’s a very important issue for customer perception,” Chief Executive Robin Hayes told Reuters.

JetBlue is currently capping its seating capacity on flights at 70% and will review the policy in the first quarter of 2021.