JetBlue Airways (B6, New York JFK) has announced it will end some routes, make others seasonal, and exit five cities altogether as it looks for ways to improve its reliability, reduce its cost base, and return to profitability.

The company told its staff it will exit Bogotá, Quito International, Lima International, Kansas City International, and Newburgh (suspended since 2020), reduce departures from Los Angeles International from about 34 a day to 24, focus on profitable transcontinental flights that include its business-class cabin, and cut capacity to San Francisco, Seattle Tacoma International, Miami International, Las Vegas Harry Reid, Reno/Tahoe, and Puerto Vallarta, JetBlue confirmed to ch-aviation in a statement.

Fort Lauderdale International will also see a capacity reduction, with the airline cutting services from Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson, Austin-Bergstrom International, Nashville International, New Orleans International, and Salt Lake City.

The ch-aviation schedules module shows that Fort Lauderdale and Los Angeles are JetBlue’s third and sixth airports in terms of capacity and frequency. Bogota, Lima, and Quito are currently served daily from Fort Lauderdale, while Kansas is served daily from New York JFK.

“These moves will allow us to redeploy our fleet to increase frequencies on well-performing routes from JetBlue’s focus cities while continuing to increase crucial ground time for our aircraft, reducing the chance of delays for our customers. The changes will also help us during a time when aircraft availability is limited - particularly with some of our aircraft grounded due to Pratt & Whitney GTF engine inspections,” JetBlue told ch-aviation.

The carrier is now focusing on its 'bread and butter' routes along the East Coast, serving the Caribbean vacation and European destinations.

Since terminating its planned merger with Spirit Airlines (NK, Fort Lauderdale International), JetBlue Airways has launched a plan to restore profitability and approach breakeven operating margins. According to its CEO Joanna Geraghty, it identified near-term initiatives for 2024 that will deliver over USD300 million in “revenue benefits”, a structural cost programme that could provide up to USD200 million in savings, and USD75 million in maintenance savings from its fleet modernisation which was recently slowed.