JetBlue, more than most airlines, is betting a summer increase in air travel demand will continue into the fall and is adding 30 new routes from its focus cities, including new trans-continental Mint service with lie-flat seats.
While airlines have generally noticed an uptick in demand for leisure travel, many have warned that it may not last, either because there will be a dropoff in the fall, or because areas now re-opening may have to throttle back if Covid cases rise again.
JetBlue’s new routes, which will phase in between July and November, are aimed at routes where it expects to be able to generate enough revenue to avoid furloughs and to allow it to reactivate airplanes that have been moth-balled for the past few months. Aside from Newark, which will see non-stop Mint service to LA and San Francisco, going head-to-head with United, the routes will bulk up service from New York JFK and Philadelphia.
