JetBlue fined $2m for ‘unrealistic scheduling’ and chronic delays

The US Department of Transportation has penalized JetBlue Airways $2m over delayed flights, the first time the department has penalized an airline for delays. According to the DOT, $1m of the fine will go to JetBlue customers affected by delays or disruptions within the next year. The other half will go directly to the U.S. Treasury, with $500,000 due within 60 days and the other half due within one year after the first payment. The department also said it has investigations into other airlines for “unrealistic flight schedules,” which do not reflect actual flight departure and arrival times. “The department will enforce the law against airlines with chronic delays or other unrealistic scheduling practices in order to protect healthy competition in commercial aviation and ensure passengers are treated fairly,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a statement. Under DOT rules, a flight is chronically delayed if it has been flown at least 10 times a month and arrives more than 30 minutes late more than 50% of the time. Cancellations are also included as delays in the DOT’s calculation. The DOT found JetBlue to have operated four chronically delayed flights at least 145 times between June 2022 through Nov. 2023, with each flight delayed for five months in a row or more. The department warned JetBlue specifically about chronic delays on its flight between John F. Kennedy International Airport and Raleigh-Durham, and the airline continued to operate three more chronically delayed flights between Fort Lauderdale and Orlando, Fla. and JFK, and between Fort Lauderdale, Fla. and Windsor Locks, Conn.<br/>