TravelingForMiles.com may receive commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on TravelingForMiles.com are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. TravelingForMiles.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers.
Other links to products and travel providers on this website will earn Traveling For Miles a commission that helps contribute to the running of the site. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities. Terms apply to all credit card welcome offers, earning rates and benefits and some credit card benefits will require enrollment. For more details please see the disclosures found at the bottom of every page.
Back in May, JetBlue’s schedule was updated to show that the airline was removing almost a third of its transatlantic capacity for the winter season to allow it to concentrate on routes to the Caribbean and on a few premium domestic routes.
In a more recent set of schedule changes, JetBlue has now pushed back the expected re-start date of five of its transatlantic routes, and this means that some routes will now not return until deep into 2025
The 5 routes impacted
Boston – London Gatwick
Currently, JetBlue offers a daily service between Boston and London’s Gatwick Airport and since May we have known that the route was going seasonal (it launched as a year-round route) and we were expecting it to return on 29 March next year (at the start of the northern hemisphere summer season).
That is now no longer going to happen.
JetBlue’s Boston to Gatwick route is being put to bed for the winter from 1 October 2024 and it is now not scheduled to return until 12 June 2025 on the following timetable:
B62104 BOS 18:57 – 06:50+1 day LGW (Mon, Tue, Thu, Fri & Sun)
B62104 BOS 18:42 – 06:35+1 day LGW (Wed)
B62104 BOS 19:37 – 07:30+1 day LGW (Sat)
B1926 LGW 12:10 – 15:06 BOS (Daily)
This will see the route suspended for over 8 months and assuming that JetBlue will not operate it in winter 2025/26, it means that this route may only operate for 3.5 months next year.
New York (JFK) – London Gatwick
Currently, JetBlue offers a daily service between New York JFK and London’s Gatwick Airport, and we found out that it was going seasonal back in May. This was another route that we were expecting to return on 29 March next year (after going dark from 27 October), but just like the service between Boston and Gatwick, this route is now not scheduled to return until 12 June 2025.
on the following timetable:
B643 JFK 19:30 – 07:55+1 day LGW (Daily)
B644 LGW 10:30 – 13:48 JFK (Daily)
This will see the route suspended for ~7.5 months and assuming that JetBlue will not operate it in winter 2025/26, it’s possible that the route may only operate for 4.5 months next year.
New York (JFK) – Edinburgh (EDI)
In the summer season, JetBlue offers a daily service between New York JFK and Edinburgh, but it was never scheduled as a year-round route, so it wasn’t surprising to see it disappear from the schedules after 30 September.
We were, however, expecting this route to return on 1 May 2025, but the latest schedule changes have seen that return date pushed back a few weeks to 22 May 2025.
Here’s the currently anticipated schedule when the route returns:
B673 JFK 21:09 – 09:25+1 day EDI (Daily)
B672 EDI 12:30 – 15:03 day JFK (Daly)
It’s unclear why this route isn’t suffering as long a suspension for the winter as the routes to Gatwick, but it may have something to do with the fact that the Gatwick routes are operated by Long Range A321neo aircraft while Edinburgh route only features a regular A321neo.
Boston – Dublin & New York (JFK) – Dublin
Currently, JetBlue offers daily service between Boston Dublin and between JFK and Dublin and as these routes have always been scheduled as seasonal, their absence from the schedules after 30 September 2024 was to be expected.
Both of these routes were originally scheduled to return on 12 March 2025, but a schedule change a few weeks ago saw that date pushed to 30 March 2025 and now this latest set of changes sees these routes returning no earlier than 17 April 2025.
These are the currently scheduled timings:
B6353 BOS 20:42 – 08:20+1 day DUB (Daily)
B6354 DUB 10:55 – 12:57 BOS (Daily)
And …
B643 JFK 20:47 – 09:00+1 day DUB (Daily)
B644 DUB 10:45 – 13:22 JFK (Daily)
Both of these routes will continue to be operated by regular A321neo aircraft when they return.
Bottom line
Almost a year ago, I dared to suggest that I thought that JetBlue was heading for trouble with its transatlantic routes and nothing that I’ve seen or read since then has changed my mind.
Sure, none of these schedule changes is proof that one or more of the airline’s transatlantic routes are in jeopardy, but given its well-documented financial and boardroom issues, I can’t help but wonder if it’s really going to be worth JetBlue’s time, effort and cash to operate the Gatwick routes for what may be a relatively short period of time each year?
I suspect not, but we’ll just have to wait and see.
[HT: AeroRoutes]
