JetBlue Airways expects to ramp up its operations at Fort Lauderdale to 140 daily flights in the next two to three years, says chief executive Robin Hayes.
The New York-based had long targeted 100 daily flights out of the airport in Florida, but recently unveiled its ambitions to grow this further to 140 daily flights.
“We are pretty close to a hundred now, we’ve been very pleased with the performance of the market and the acceptance of our product,” Hayes tells Flightglobal on the sidelines of the US Chamber of Commerce aviation summit in Washington DC.
“We saw an opportunity to increase it to 140 [flights]. That’s going to happen in the next two to three years.”
Earlier this month, JetBlue announced it will begin daily service from Fort Lauderdale to New Orleans from 29 September. It will also add two additional daily flights to Nassau from 1 August, for a total of five daily on the route.
JetBlue’s expansion comes as its home at Fort Lauderdale’s terminal three undergoes refurbishment. Plans are also in the pipeline to link the terminal with terminal four, where international flights arrive.
“The infrastructure improvements are moving forward. [Airport operator] Broward County has done a good job,” says JetBlue’s vice-president of government and airport affairs Jeff Goodell.
Future growth out of Fort Lauderdale will focus on Latin America, the Caribbean and to other US domestic points. “The South Florida market is so huge,” says Hayes.
The airline will also work with interline partner Azul to feed passengers into Fort Lauderdale, he adds. The Brazilian carrier operates to the airport from Viracopos-Campinas.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
