Aerostar Airports expects JetBlue Airways to add new service to Bogota and Curacao from San Juan Luis Muñoz International airport in the near future, says chief executive Agustin Arellano.
The New York-based carrier is adding the “best” routes from San Juan, for example operating a veritable shuttle to the Dominican Republic and serving key major gateways in the continental USA, he says on a tour of the airport during the Routes Americas forum.
JetBlue has indicated that it plans to add Bogota and Curacao to its network from the airport, its Caribbean hub, says Arellano.
The airline last new service from San Juan was to Chicago O’Hare in November 2013, Innovata FlightMaps Analytics shows. It discontinued service to both Jacksonville and West Palm Beach from the airport in 2014.
One driver of JetBlue’s expansion from San Juan is a planned new international arrivals facility in the concourse it uses at the airport. Arellano says construction will begin on the arrivals facility in March and is scheduled to be complete in about six months, or by September.
The new facility, something JetBlue has pushed for since Aerostar closed the concession for the airport in 2013, will consolidate the carrier’s operations into one concourse and eliminate the need to tow aircraft from the existing arrivals facility around the airport.
JetBlue carried nearly 36% of departing passengers from San Juan during the year ending in November 2015, US Department of Transportation data shows.
Passenger traffic is up at the San Juan airport. Traffic reached 8.9 million in 2015, up 3.9% from the year before and 12.7% since before Aerostar took over the airport in 2012, the operator’s data shows.
Renovations of concourse C will end in March, resulting in modern and passenger-friendly facilities in concourses A, B and C, which serve the majority of airlines.
Concourse D will be closed sometime in the next year with airlines relocated to the three renovated concourses, says Arellano.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
