JetBlue Airways will increase daily flights to Jamaica by June, bucking the trend of cuts in other destinations it serves.
In what is being hailed as a huge boost to Jamaica’s tourism industry, JetBlue — the seventh-largest airline in North America based on passengers carried — will operate up to nine daily non-stop flights into Jamaica from New York’s John F Kennedy International Airport (JFK).
JFK is one of the busiest international airports in the world, with many connection possibilities across the United States and other countries.
“New York is the largest city in the US, with a massive Diaspora, too, so it is also a huge boost for the visiting friends and relatives market space, which is very helpful in spurring further economic activity across the island,” said Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett.
Senior advisor and strategist in the Ministry of Tourism, Delano Seiveright, noted that JetBlue’s bolstered flights from New York are related to the alliance between it and American Airlines.
“This is called the North-east Alliance, creating the largest flight schedule in New York and Boston. The two airlines are now offering code-share connections to nearly 600 origin and destination markets. The north-east United States is Jamaica’s biggest tourism market, so the connections into and out of JFK should be of real good benefit for the island,” said Seiveright.
The JetBlue boost follows a massive tourism markets blitz across the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and beyond led by Bartlett last September and October. Seiveright, who was at those meetings, pointed out that talks with American Airlines’ executive leadership at its Dallas, Texas, headquarters “covered a lot of ground and reinforced the importance of the relationship between them and Jamaica and their expanding footprint, occasioned by their rapidly cementing alliance with JetBlue, a very critical partner for our country’s economy”.
The boost in flights to Jamaica follows JetBlue’s recent announcement that it would cut a dozen-and-a-half routes primarily across the Caribbean and Latin America, including Barbados, Puerto Rico, Haiti, Mexico, and the US Virgin Islands.
“As part of our ongoing review of our network, this spring we’ll end service on 17 routes that have underperformed and transition a handful of markets to seasonal,” the airline noted in a media statement.
