{"id":333598,"date":"2026-07-08T21:34:07","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T21:34:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/333598\/"},"modified":"2026-07-08T21:34:07","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T21:34:07","slug":"jetblue-seeks-30-more-gates-old-spirit-terminal-space-at-fort-lauderdale-hollywood-ceo-says-sun-sentinel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/333598\/","title":{"rendered":"JetBlue seeks 30 more gates, old Spirit terminal space at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood, CEO says \u2013 Sun Sentinel"},"content":{"rendered":"

JetBlue Airways is seeking 30 more gates as well as space once used by defunct Spirit Airlines as it expands its presence at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, CEO Joanna Geraghty told the South Florida Sun Sentinel on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Since its inception more than two decades ago, the New York-based carrier has considered Fort Lauderdale to be one of six U.S. \u201cfocus cities\u201d where the carrier believes it can attract the most customers and make a profit doing so.<\/p>\n

But in the wake of the collapse of ultra-low-cost carrier Spirit Airlines, which once led all airlines in passengers carried to and from the Broward County airport, JetBlue is determined to retain its newly established position as market leader by establishing its first-ever hub there.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are definitely going to need more resources in the form of gates,\u201d Geraghty said. \u201cWe\u2019re working with the Broward County Aviation Department to make sure we have enough operational infrastructure improvements to support our continued growth.\u201d<\/p>\n

She spoke ahead of a scheduled airport appearance Thursday with Marty St. George, JetBlue\u2019s president; Mark Gale, CEO\/Director of Aviation at the airport; and other local officials who planned to discuss the airport\u2019s future after Spirit\u2019s shutdown.<\/p>\n

Spirit, the pioneering discounter, permanently shut down operations on May 2 after failing to secure a federal government bailout. The Dania Beach-based company had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in August 2025, the second time in less than a year.<\/p>\n

JetBlue had sought to acquire Spirit after outbidding Frontier Airlines in 2023 with a $3.8 billion offer. But a federal judge blocked the deal after the Biden Administration\u2019s Justice Department sued on antitrust grounds.<\/p>\n

Other carriers such as\u00a0 Allegiant Air,<\/a> Avelo Airlines, Breeze Airways,<\/a> and Frontier Airlines<\/a> have all added flights on routes once served by Spirit out of Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International.<\/p>\n

But none has been as aggressive as JetBlue, whose president, St. George, appeared at a Greater Fort Lauderdale Alliance<\/a> midyear lunch in May to declare the airline intends to super-charge its local operations by fattening its airport schedule to 150 flights daily, installing a major hub filled with connecting flights to U.S., Caribbean and Latin American destinations in the process.<\/p>\n

JetBlue now has 130 flights daily out of Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International. It operates most of its flights out of Terminal 3 on the airport\u2019s west side. where the airline\u2019s passengers arrive and depart through an estimated 20 gates in Concourses E and F.<\/p>\n

The terminal is connected by a closed pedestrian pass-through to Terminal 4, formerly the way station for Spirit\u2019s passengers on the airport\u2019s south side. The latter terminal includes an international arrival center with a Customs inspection station.<\/p>\n

Geraghty said JetBlue favors the airport because it charges the airlines lower fees than other airports such as Miami International Airport, whose rates are not popular among many tenants.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen compared to Miami, Fort Lauderdale is significantly lower,\u201d she said.\u00a0\u201cBroward County is smart to remember that those costs factor into the ticket prices.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AA workman prepares terminal space once used by Spirit Airlines at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport for a transition to other airlines including JetBlue Airways, which expects to operate up to 150 flights daily by 2027. (Carline Jean\/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
\nInterest in Spirit assets, but not its HQ<\/p>\n

Geraghty said the airline is also \u201cin the mix\u201d to acquire certain Spirit assets that will soon be auctioned through the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of New York this month.<\/p>\n

While she declined to discuss a shopping list, she said JetBlue has no interest in Spirit\u2019s former headquarters building in Dania Beach.busin<\/p>\n

\u201cAt this point we are not interested in the former headquarters building,\u201d she said, noting the airline has 2,500 people stationed in Broward County, which is also the home of the company\u2019s Paisly travel services subsidiary.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got a pretty sizable footprint here already,\u201d Geraghty said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JetBlue Airways is seeking 30 more gates as well as space once used by defunct Spirit Airlines as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":207431,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[506,558,8904,28,29,249,251,250,686,114,266,115,109,1798],"class_list":["post-333598","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-lauderdale","tag-broward-county","tag-business","tag-dania-beach","tag-florida","tag-florida-news","tag-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale-headlines","tag-fort-lauderdale-news","tag-hollywood","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\/333598","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=333598"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333598\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/207431"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=333598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=333598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=333598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}