New York-based JetBlue Airways will consolidate operations at five major metropolitan areas in the U.S. for eight weeks starting April 15 while maintaining a “critical” level of service throughout its network to maintain essential connectivity, the company announced Wednesday. JetBlue said it would slash services in New York, Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C., under the terms of Department of Transportation rules that exempt airlines from certain minimum service requirements to cities they serve without losing their rights to government aid set aside for Covid-19 relief.
As part of the exercise, the airline plans to suspend service at seven secondary airports that serve those cities and surrounding areas. For example, in the Boston market, JetBlue will suspend operations at T.F. Green International Airport in Warwick, Rhode Island, while cutting the number of combined daily departures at T.F. Green and Boston Logan Airport from 180 to 28.
In the Los Angeles market, departures will decline from 44 to five at Los Angeles International Airport and Long Beach, while JetBlue suspends all service at Hollywood Burbank and Ontario International. In the San Francisco area, JetBlue said it would suspend service at San Jose International Airport and cut service from 19 to two departures, both at San Francisco International.
JetBlue will make the biggest cuts in the New York area, where departures at New York JFK and Newark International will total 30. It will suspend all service at New York La Guardia, Westchester County Airport in White Plains, and Stewart International Airport in New Windsor. Together, the five airports now account for 215 departures a day.
Finally, in the Washington, D.C. market, it plans to suspend all service at Baltimore/Washington International and cut departures from 34 to five, all at Washington National Airport.
JetBlue has already cut April service by 80 percent and has filed an exemption request with the U.S. Department of Transportation to suspend flying at other airports where the airline operates what it characterized as a handful of flights.
“We face new challenges every day and can’t hesitate to take the steps necessary to reduce our costs amidst dramatically falling demand so we can emerge from this unprecedented time as a strong company for our customers and crewmembers,” said JetBlue head of revenue and planning Scott Laurence.