JetBlue Eyes Further Transatlantic Growth, Applies Pressure Over Amsterdam Slots

Two more European destinations are being added to JetBlue Airways’ network during the summer 2024 season as the New York-based carrier seeks to further increase its transatlantic footprint.

Routes from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) and Boston Logan International Airport (BOS) to Dublin Airport (DUB) will begin on March 12, 2024. These services will be followed by flights between JFK and Edinburgh Airport (EDI), Scotland, from May 22. All three new routes will operate daily through Sept. 30 using Airbus A321neo aircraft.

CEO Robin Hayes says the routes will being “a new level of service and affordable fares” to these markets that have been “dominated by high-fare legacy carriers for decades.”

The expansion takes the number of European cities served by JetBlue to five. During the winter 2023-24 season, the airline will fly double-daily from JFK to London Heathrow Airport (LHR), as well as daily to Amsterdam (AMS), London Gatwick (LGW), and Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG). AMS, LGW, and LHR will also receive daily service from BOS.

JetBlue entered the transatlantic market in August 2021, initially launching routes between New York and London. Service to Paris started in June this year, followed by Amsterdam in August after a protracted battle to secure slots at the Netherlands hub.

In August, President and Chief Operating Officer Joanna Geraghty said that strong transatlantic demand helped to drive second quarter revenues, which grew 6.7% year-on-year to $2.6 billion as operating expenses fell 7.2% to $2.4 billion. “Our transatlantic service in particular has performed extremely well and driven the strongest year-over-year revenue of all geographies in our network,” she explained.

According to data provided by OAG Schedules Analyser, JetBlue’s new routes will provide competition for Aer Lingus, Delta Air Lines, and United Airlines. The latest schedules filed for northern summer 2024 show that Aer Lingus intends to fly double-daily from DUB to BOS and JFK, as well as daily to Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR). Delta will serve DUB and EDI daily from both BOS and JFK, while United will operate two flights per day from EWR to both DUB and EDI.

Alongside the new destinations, JetBlue plans to launch a second route to Paris, complementing the service from JFK that started in June. Year-round flights from BOS to CDG will begin on April 3, while a second daily flight from JFK to CDG will start on June 20.

Elsewhere, in the Amsterdam market, flights from JFK and BOS were launched in August and September respectively. However, the airline fears being pushed out of the European hub as part of the Dutch government’s move to curb traffic as it seeks to reduce noise pollution. Flights will be capped at 452,500 per year, almost 10% below 2019 levels.

In September, JetBlue filed a complaint against the Netherlands and the European Union (EU) to the U.S. Transportation Department (DOT), and on Oct. 20 urged the DOT to suspend all KLM services to JFK. The airline said the latter measure would be “the only proportional schedule reduction,” adding that the Dutch government is in “flagrant violation" of the US-EU Open Skies Agreement.

Alternatively, JetBlue suggested DOT imposed a limitation on antitrust immunity granted to KLM and the "Blue Skies" alliance with Delta, Air France and Virgin Atlantic, or transfer at least two of KLM’s U.S.-Amsterdam slot pairs for summer 2024 to JetBlue.