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JetBlue sets 2021 for first flights to London from NYC, Boston
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JetBlue sets 2021 for first flights to London from NYC, Boston (Bloomberg/-)
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etBlue Airways Corp. said it will use long-range Airbus SE jets with a modified version of its premium cabin as it prepares to join the hyper-competitive market for business travelers flying between the U.S. and Europe.
JetBlue will fly starting in 2021 from its hubs at New York’s John F. Kennedy and Boston Logan to an unspecified airport in London using the single-aisle Airbus A321LR, the carrier told employees at a rally Wednesday in New York. The announcement capped months of vows from Chief Executive Officer Robin Hayes that JetBlue could bring new travelers to the market by undercutting “obscene” business-class fares and offering its posh Mint service.
The trans-Atlantic jump is a major gamble for JetBlue, which carved out a domestic business starting in 2000 by offering plush leather seats and innovative seat-back video screens at discount fares. The carrier will immediately face twin competitive threats from entrenched global airline alliances and struggling low-cost operators, while also needing to secure space at crowded airports.
“This is one of the biggest step-changes in growing an airline, going international,” said Samuel Engel, head of the aviation group at consultant ICF. “And the Atlantic is not just any international market. The trans-Atlantic is a graveyard for airlines. JetBlue is better positioned to succeed than almost any other airline that has grown into it.”
Long planned
JetBlue has been deliberating trans-Atlantic flights since at least 2016, when it ordered A321 planes with the right to convert some of the aircraft to a version with extra fuel tanks for longer routes. It will switch 13 existing orders to the A321LR, which can fly 4,000 nautical miles -- sufficient to hop from the northeast U.S. to Western Europe -- and can seat 206 passengers. That’s similar to a Boeing Co. 757-200.
“London is the largest metro area JetBlue doesn’t yet serve from both Boston and New York, and we could not be more thrilled to be changing that in the years ahead,” said Joanna Geraghty, president and chief operating officer. “The fares being charged today by airlines on these routes, specifically on the premium end, are enough to make you blush.”
Switching to the A321LR does not affect JetBlue’s current orders for 85 A321s, its external financial commitments or capital-spending plans, the airline said. JetBlue also retains the right to shift more A321s to the long-range option. The carrier has created an internal team to begin securing U.S. regulatory approval for extended flights over water.
Rising competition
JetBlue’s entry would add to the rise of narrow-body planes plying the Atlantic. Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA already was operating flights with the Boeing 737 Max before that plane was grounded following two crashes of the model within five months. The airline has had to scrap some flights and switch others to bigger aircraft, increasing its costs.
Discount carrier Wow Air Hf, which used single-aisle planes to connect European cities to the U.S. with a stop in Iceland, shut down last month after failing to secure rescue funding.
The tougher challenge for JetBlue is likely to come from the biggest carriers that for years have dominated traffic across the North Atlantic. American Airlines Group Inc. and IAG’s British Airways form one alliance, while Delta Air Lines Inc. and Air France-KLM are joined in another and a third includes United Continental Holdings Inc. and Deutsche Lufthansa AG. The incumbents hold the majority of slots, or rights to take off and land.
“There’s a difference between going in as a little water skimmer taking off some of the leisure traffic at the bottom,” Engel said. “A Wow in that market is annoying but not an existential threat. A JetBlue serving it and going after core business traffic is a real threat to the established players and they are going to fight hard.”
Read also: Delete your Instagram pictures to win a year of free flights
Regulators’ role
JetBlue has been calling on regulators in the U.S., U.K. and European Union to force airlines that are members of global alliances to give up some valuable flight slots at congested airports like Kennedy and London’s Heathrow airport.
“The big airlines will tell you that competition has never been more robust, but the smaller airlines have never found it harder to get access,” Geraghty said.
The competition is also tough at less trafficked hubs. Delta last week announced it will begin flights to Boston and New York from London’s Gatwick airport with trans-Atlantic partner Virgin Atlantic starting in 2020. Delta is a major competitor to JetBlue in both of those northeastern U.S. cities.
“Gatwick is less congested than Heathrow” when it comes to flights, said Bob Mann, president of aviation consultancy R.W. Mann & Co. “But the facility is just as crowded. It’s not just slots, but ticket counter access, baggage positions and gates. And you want to get flights at commercially attractive times.”
Hayes, who has been JetBlue CEO four years, previously worked for British Airways, as did Chief Financial Officer Stephen Priest.
In addition to its U.S. routes, JetBlue has flights to nearly two dozen countries in the Caribbean, Mexico and the northern part of South America.
