JetBlue is expanding to a new airport in New York – one that’s not far from its home base.
Starting this fall, the carrier will launch service from Islip’s Long Island MacArthur Airport (ISP) to three destinations in Florida.
The move is a first for JetBlue, which is headquartered in New York and has a strong presence at the area’s three largest airports — most notably John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK).
“This new service aims to help better serve the many loyal JetBlue customers living on Long Island, providing them with more convenient travel options to popular destinations in Florida,” the carrier said in a statement Tuesday.
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JetBlue’s new Islip routes
With these three new routes, JetBlue is clearly hoping to take advantage of leisure travelers flying between New York and the Sunshine State, with service to popular vacation and seasonal destinations.
Here’s the full list of the three new routes:
- ISP to Orlando International Airport (MCO) — launches Oct. 24, operates daily
- ISP to Palm Beach International Airport (PBI) — launches Oct. 24, operates four times weekly
- ISP to Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL) — launches Oct. 25, operates four times weekly
Related: JetBlue TrueBlue program: Earn and redeem points, transfer partners and more
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Expanding New York footprint
The arrival of JetBlue in Islip will give the airport a fourth airline. Today, it’s served by Southwest Airlines, plus ultra-low-cost carriers Breeze Airways and Frontier Airlines.
As of October, prior to JetBlue’s arrival, here’s what the route map out of Islip will look like, as shown on the below map from aviation analytics firm Cirium.
The airport already has nonstops to the three destinations JetBlue will serve, which means the carrier will be injecting some competition into the Orlando, Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale routes.
This new airport for JetBlue comes as the carrier has been in the midst of a multimonth network shakeup in hopes of returning to profitability. The moves have seen JetBlue pull back in some cities like Los Angeles and over the winter at London Gatwick Airport (LGW), while bolstering its service to San Juan in Puerto Rico and doubling down on its Northeast presence — not to mention focusing on leisure travel, as CEO Joanna Geraghty told me the carrier would earlier this year.
“We’re definitely known for leisure, we’re born to do leisure,” Geraghty said in March of the airline’s plans, just before the launch of JetBlue’s Dublin service. “So, continuing to redouble around our leisure core, and what that brings.”
Located on the central part of Long Island, Islip’s airport is about 45 miles from both JFK and LaGuardia Airport (LGA).
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