JetBlue Will Cut Some Routes

Puerto Vallarta es el tercer destino que conecta JetBlue en México. (Photo via: JetBlue).

There are two ways for a business to increase its revenue.

One is to figure out a way to grow your sales. The other is to cut expenditures.

Just days after the first option was taken away from JetBlue Airways when a federal judge agreed with the Department of Justice that a potential merger with Spirit Airlines would not be in the best interest of competition, the airline announced it would be cutting some routes as a stepping stone for its return to profitability.

That includes leaving a fairly large airport in Baltimore-Washington International. JetBlue will also stop flying from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York to Portland, Oregon and to San Jose, and from Westchester County, New York.

The airline will also suspend service from New York to Ponce, Puerto Rico, and to Milwaukee.

“We can’t fly everywhere we’d like, so we need to be highly selective about where we point our aircraft in order to turn a profit, support our overall network strategy, and offer a reliable operation,” wrote Dave Jehn, vice president of network planning and airline partnerships, in a note to staff.

In the same memo, it was noted that JetBlue will increase service to Paris and to the Caribbean as leisure travel becomes more and more popular. The airline already flies to European cities in London and Amsterdam.

Jehn said that the decision to change routes was made prior to the decision by the federal judge and were in “no way” related to the judge’s decision.

“All the routes included have recently underperformed our expectations and these changes come as post-COVID travel patterns continue to evolve,” the airline said. “By removing some of our less in-demand flights, we will give our operation more breathing room as we plan for air traffic control challenges in the northeast.”