JetBlue prunes new pandemic routes as recovery accelerates

JetBlue Airways bucked convention when it began unveiling dozens of new routes early on in the coronavirus pandemic. The additions were widely seen as a play to fly where the few travelers out there were going but also some strategic moves, like expanding in competitors’ hubs, like Dallas/Fort Worth and Detroit. A year on, the widely accepted view that strategic flying is a euphemism for losing money is ringing true for the New York-based carrier. JetBlue has cut 23 of the 90 new routes it unveiled between July and December 2020, an Airline Weekly analysis of Cirium schedule data shows. Newark was a winner, keeping the majority of its respective additions, while Philadelphia and Raleigh-Durham saw the brunt of the cuts with nine of their combined 13 new routes gone. Los Angeles also retained many of its pandemic routes though many replaced service from nearby Long Beach when JetBlue left the airport in October. JetBlue spokesperson Philip Stewart said the latest changes come as bookings return to “expected patterns” and schedules are shifting to “support our long-term network strategy.” He added that many of the pandemic routes helped the airline “generate cash for operations during a very difficult time.” “A lot of this stuff wasn’t going to stick around,” Ailevon Pacific Aviation Managing Director Brad DiFiore said when asked of the cuts. “It was a completely different environment when they added it.”<br/>