Now, JetBlue is looking to take over most of Spirit\u2019s vacated terminal space as part of a broader plan to establish its first hub ever at the airport.<\/p>\n
St. George was in South Florida to address the annual midyear meeting of the Greater Fort Lauderdale Alliance, the county\u2019s economic development arm, at the Seminole Hard Rock Casino and Hotel in Hollywood.<\/p>\n
From first flight to No. 1<\/p>\n
More than two decades ago, the budget airline operated its first flight from John F. Kennedy International Airport to Fort Lauderdale. Over the years, JetBlue competed with Spirit for budget-minded passengers, generally trailing the Dania-Beach-based carrier in passengers served, but consistently appearing in the airport\u2019s Top Ten rankings.<\/p>\n
Today, it\u2019s JetBlue that occupies the top spot.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not necessarily the way we wanted to get there, but I think we ended up in a good spot,\u201d St. George said. \u201cBroward County ended up in a good spot. Our service has been very well received here.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is an incredible opportunity for us \u2014 not necessarily to be No. 1, but to diversify from the Northeast,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/TFL-l-JetBlue-Spirit-takeover-01.jpg\")
JetBlue and Spirit Airlines planes are shown at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in 2024 after a judge blocked a proposed Jetblue buyout of Spirit. JetBlue now seeks to take over most of Spirit’s vacated terminal space after the latter’s May 2 shutdown. (Mike Stocker\/South Florida Sun Sentinel)<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have very aggressive growth plans for South Florida,\u201d St. George said. \u201cI think by February 2027 we will be at 150 flights a day.\u201d<\/p>\n
It would be an operation that is bigger than the carrier\u2019s footprint in Boston, as well as in New York.<\/p>\n
Prior to speaking with reporters, St. George sat for an onstage interview with Bob Swindell, president and CEO of the alliance, before a luncheon audience of several hundred business and public sector guests.<\/p>\n
The airline executive characterized JetBlue\u2019s anticipated expansion as a \u201cbig bet\u201d on Fort Lauderdale.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a full-size operation for us,\u201d he told the Sun Sentinel. \u201cFor the first time in JetBlue\u2019s history, [there will be] an actual hub where we have flights timed for connections. I think it\u2019s going to be a very different operation than we have ever had before.\u201d<\/p>\n
The airline envisions more flights to Latin America and the Caribbean; the carrier plans to announce a new Latin destination next week.<\/p>\n
Supplanting Spirit<\/p>\n
St. George said he couldn\u2019t\u00a0 speak about whether JetBlue will replace \u201ceverything that Spirit did.<\/a> But I will say we are definitely focused on what the community needs and how JetBlue will fulfill that need.\u201d<\/p>\n He said the airline would be \u201ccomfortable\u201d with taking over most of the vacated Spirit space.<\/p>\n \u201cWe can\u2019t be the solution\u00a0 for everybody. We can\u2019t fly people everywhere,\u201d he added. \u201cAs a reminder \u2014 Spirit did not make money. They certainly were doing stuff that was not profitable.\u201d<\/p>\n Like St. George, other airline executives recognize the importance of Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International and the opportunities it offers. Most notably, it\u2019s cheaper for airlines to use than Miami International Airport, which JetBlue vacated after two years due to the higher cost of operations.<\/p>\n Even as Spirit reduced operations, the last place the ultra-low-cost carrier shrank was Fort Lauderdale. On its last day, Spirit canceled 277 flights systemwide, with 89 of them out of Fort Lauderdale, according to the tracking service FlightAware.<\/p>\n JetBlue currently operates slightly more than 100 flights daily at the airport, a spokesman said. But that number will rise during the summer.<\/p>\n Asked about what competitors such as Allegiant Air and Frontier Airlines may have in mind, St. George said it is \u201ctoo soon to say.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI have great confidence the airport director and [county] commissioners will be in line with us,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Fuel costs inflating fares<\/p>\n He said it was also too early to forecast the degree to which Spirit\u2019s disappearance will impact fares in the marketplace, particularly at an airport known for hosting a number of discount airlines.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the same time [Spirit\u2019s failure] happened, prices went up because of the price of fuel,\u201d St. George said. \u201cIf Spirit\u00a0 were still here, prices would have gone up a ton. There is no question prices will have to go up because of fuel.\u201d<\/p>\n He said JetBlue is still focused on offering lower fares, with customers able to buy additional legroom as well as tickets for the airline\u2019s upscale MINT service.<\/p>\n \u201cThe majority of our customers will be in the back of the airplane buying their cheap fares,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n New terminal<\/p>\n St. George reaffirmed that a planned new terminal at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood east of the one dominated by Spirit is \u201cstill happening.\u201d The Terminal 5 project, of which JetBlue is a co-construction manager, has been slow to develop. No structures have risen since a groundbreaking in October 2023.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cWe need the gates; it\u2019s definitely going to happen,\u201d he said, adding that he had toured the site during his visit in South Florida. \u201cWe will work with the airport for the allocation of gates.\u201d<\/p>\n As recently as a month ago, St. George noted, Spirit showed an interest in the terminal.<\/p>\n \u201cSpirit\u2019s not there anymore,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m cautiously optimistic that that will work out well for us.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JetBlue Airways, which has supplanted defunct Spirit Airlines as the busiest air carrier at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":281395,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[506,558,28,29,249,251,250,114,266,115,109,1798],"class_list":["post-281394","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-lauderdale","tag-broward-county","tag-business","tag-florida","tag-florida-news","tag-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale-headlines","tag-fort-lauderdale-news","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-social","tag-transportation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281394","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=281394"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281394\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/281395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=281394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=281394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=281394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}