After three straight years of breakneck growth across the Atlantic Ocean, JetBlue pumped the brakes on its expansion to Europe this winter. But it appears the carrier could soon announce its newest overseas destination.
“I think we’ll probably see at least one more European destination next year,” JetBlue president Marty St. George predicted, speaking last week at an aviation industry conference in Dallas.
That would be notable considering the New York-based carrier has, in recent months, pulled back a bit on its transatlantic schedule — at least, for the colder months.
JetBlue’s evolving Europe strategy
As part of a larger network shake-up this year, JetBlue just cut its wintertime flying to London Gatwick Airport (LGW) and scaled back in Paris. Instead, the carrier is sending more of its Mint-equipped Airbus jets to popular warm-weather destinations like San Juan, Puerto Rico; Phoenix; and Las Vegas during the off-peak months in Europe.
It was JetBlue’s first real pullback in Europe after adding five destinations there — its first five ever — over the past three years.
All year, in fact, JetBlue executives have signaled the carrier’s future European expansion would be more measured — or “opportunistic,” as CEO Joanna Geraghty put it when I spoke with her this spring.
Still bullish on transatlantic travel …
None of that, though, is to say that the airline is done adding new overseas destinations to its network.
After all, there are additional, popular European cities that JetBlue’s longest-range Airbus A321 aircraft could conceivably reach from its hubs at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) and Boston Logan International Airport (BOS).
And JetBlue continues to see its across-the-pond service as a key part of its recipe for success, even as the carrier has doubled down on its East Coast leisure roots.
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“Europe’s been a very important market for us, and especially for loyalty. There’s a lot of pent-up demand for our customers to fly to Europe,” Christopher Buckner, JetBlue’s vice president of loyalty programs and partnerships, said when speaking to TPG in September.
To Buckner’s point, JetBlue recently announced a deal-sweetener for high-paying travelers flying to Europe: Transatlantic Mint passengers will get complimentary access to the airline’s first-ever airport lounges at JFK and BOS that are planned to open beginning in late 2025.
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… But growth will be limited
At the same time, don’t expect to see JetBlue’s nonstop Europe route map balloon too much more in the next few years. The airline’s future aircraft delivery plans are limiting on that front, St. George said, noting the airline expects delivery of two long-range Airbus A321XLR jets in 2025. Beyond that, though, no long-range aircraft are slated to join the fleet until 2030.
“So, from an aircraft perspective, we’re going to be relatively constrained,” St. George told the Dallas audience.
Dublin and Edinburgh, Scotland, to return in 2025
Despite those constraints, JetBlue plans to bring back two seasonal Europe routes launched in 2024 for a second season. That’s good news for travelers eyeing trips to Ireland or Scotland.
“We did some experimenting this summer with Dublin and Edinburgh,” St. George said. “They’re both coming back in summer 2025; they’ve been great.”
Along with those Emerald Isle and Scottish destinations, JetBlue’s transatlantic route map currently includes year-round service to London, Paris and Amsterdam.
Despite pulling back on its European growth this winter, the carrier’s total seats across the Atlantic in 2024 are up 66% over 2023, according to data from aviation analytics firm Cirium.
Speculation around domestic first class grows
Meanwhile, JetBlue isn’t exactly putting to rest speculation over an onboard product that would likely fly a bit closer to home — that is, if it ever became a reality.
Earlier this year, TPG reported that some Wall Street analysts had begun predicting that the carrier seemed poised to announce a new domestic first-class-style cabin for some of its jets. That much-theorized cabin has even garnered a nickname in some industry circles: “Junior Mint,” an ode to JetBlue’s most premium cabin. (JetBlue has not announced any such cabin, nor coined that nickname.)
‘Junior Mint’ speculation grows
Talk of this “Junior Mint” theory grew louder in July when JetBlue executives teased a forthcoming announcement about a new “premium product” for the airline.
Weeks later, JetBlue did, in fact, make a big premium product announcement, but it wasn’t a first-class cabin. It was the new lounge portfolio for JFK and BOS.
Last month, the carrier made an additional pseudo-premium announcement, revealing it will soon repackage its extra-legroom Even More Space seats into a new, mid-tier fare offering called “Even More.”
Farewell to visions of first-class recliners? Not quite.
At last week’s industry conference in Dallas, veteran aviation journalist Brian Sumers of The Airline Observer asked St. George directly whether JetBlue is planning a domestic first-class-style cabin, citing the swirling rumors.
“I can’t comment about anything like that. I will say that we are looking at the best way to use the real estate on the airplane. It’s too soon to make any sort of announcement,” St. George said.
But based on the success JetBlue has seen from its Mint and Even More Space products, St. George added, “It’s certainly something we’ve thought about.”
Only time will tell whether the comments ultimately foreshadow an additional future premium cabin announcement.
Far clearer, though, is that JetBlue does lack the spacious recliners and premium service at the front of its planes on short-haul routes to match up with its perpetually highly rated Mint cabins, a bona fide international business-class-level product featuring lie-flat pods.
Hefty premium product budget
We should also point out that JetBlue has budgeted $400 million for premium product initiatives between 2025 and 2027 as part of the company’s overarching plan called “JetForward,” meant to return the carrier to profitability for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic.
Buckner, speaking to me in September, confirmed that the hefty budget for premium product initiatives goes well beyond the carrier’s JFK and BOS lounge plans.
“Our lounge products and loyalty are a pillar in that overall $400 million,” Buckner said. “So there will be other initiatives as well.”
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