JetBlue Airways, in yet another move to expand its presence at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, announced Thursday it intends to add Cleveland to the mix along with an array of additional flights to multiple U.S. and Caribbean destinations in July.
JetBlue said that after Cleveland is added this summer, the New York-based carrier will have added flights to 21 cities and “increased its daily flights by nearly 32 departures from Fort Lauderdale over the past year.”
“These latest additions reflect our ongoing strategy to build an undeniably strong and relevant network in Fort Lauderdale by adding both new destinations and more frequencies where our customers want to fly,” Daniel Shurz, senior vice president, revenue, network and enterprise planning, said in a prepared statement.
The new service to Cleveland will start July 8 with one flight daily. Flights between Fort Lauderdale and Cleveland are now available for purchase at jetblue.com and on the JetBlue app, the company’s statement said. Members of the airline’s “TrueBlue” loyalty program who book by Sunday will be eligible to receive 2,500 bonus points.
The resulting flight frequencies effective July 9 to other U.S. cities with the exception of Norfolk, Va., will be:
Atlanta: Four dailies (from three dailies).
Jacksonville: Two dailies (from one daily).
Las Vegas: Three dailies (from one daily).
Newark: Four dailies (effective July 8 — from one daily).
Norfolk: One daily (from twice a week).
Philadelphia: Three dailies (from one daily).
Effective July 9, flights to the Caribbean will include:
Aruba: One daily (up from three times weekly).
St. Maarten: One daily (up from three times weekly).
Santo Domingo: Two dailies (from one daily).
As of January, airport statistics showed JetBlue ranked second at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood in market share at 21.4%, with Dania Beach-based Spirit Airlines, still reorganizing under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, leading all airlines at 25.5%. Recently, JetBlue announced a lineup of additional flights from the airport that included services to Tampa and Jacksonville.
The additions came as JetBlue and other carriers at the airport including Spirit, Delta, Southwest, American and Allegiant experienced double-digit flight delays amid continued Transportation Security Administration staffing shortages driven by the partial U.S. Government shutdown. The airport had 220 delays by late afternoon Thursday, according to the tracking service FlightAware.