Dear readers,<\/p>\n
It\u2019s the heart of winter, it\u2019s freezing in the Northeast, and most airlines have reported robust demand across the United States. So I am not surprised things are going well for JetBlue in Fort Lauderdale, where the high today will be about 71 degrees.<\/p>\n
But I am impressed at how quickly JetBlue \u2014 not an airline known for its alacrity \u2014 is staking its claim to the South Florida market. Despite launching 20 new routes in roughly the last six months, including St. Maarten, Pittsburgh, and New Orleans<\/a>, and adding frequency on many others (such as Atlanta, Hartford, and Cancun), JetBlue is finding consumers are paying solid fares.<\/p>\n \u201cBookings are strong right now,\u201d JetBlue president Marty St. George said on the company\u2019s fourth quarter earnings call last week. \u201cAnd I think what I\u2019m especially excited about is we\u2019ve seen a nice recovery of leisure customers, and frankly I cannot talk enough about how pleasantly surprised we\u2019ve been with the speed of the adoption of our new capacity in Fort Lauderdale.\u201d<\/p>\n JetBlue has been the sad story of the industry for the past six years as better-run airlines have plucked its customers in New York and Boston. With no real strongholds anywhere<\/a>, it again struggled in 2025, posting a net loss of $602 million on total operating revenues of $9 billion. <\/a><\/p>\n Now JetBlue senses an opening in Fort Lauderdale \u2014 not far from American\u2019s Miami hub \u2014 and JetBlue is throwing a lot of capacity at it. By July, JetBlue will fly 37 percent more seats and 28 percent more ASMs than one year earlier, according to Cirium data.<\/p>\n