JetBlue Announces Expansion Into West Coast

JetBlue has announced plans to improve it’s presence in the west coast market. Traditionally they have focused on the east coast, they made a play to acquire Virgin America to try to improve their west coast presence but ultimately Alaska Airlines bid was successful. They have announced the following:

Ontario, California

They will be adding new non stop flights between Ontario International Airport (ONT) and New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK). Service will begin on September 5th, with fares starting at $99 one way. The daily schedule is as follows:

• JFK-ONT Flight #355, 7:12 p.m. – 10:39 p.m
• ONT-JFK Flight #354, 11:59 p.m. – 8:24 a.m. (+1)

Steamboat Springs, Colorado

They will be adding season service in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Service will begin December 15th, 2018. The fares will be from Boston starting at $149, from Fort Lauderdale starting from $159 and Long Beach from $129 one way. The three new routes are:

• Boston (BOS) to/from Steamboat/Hayden (HDN) Wednesday & Saturdays:
  • BOS-HDN Flight #1227 9:14 a.m. – 12:16 p.mh, r
  • HDN-BOS Flight #1228, 1:11 p.m. – 7:17 p.m
• Fort Lauderdale (FLL) to/from Steamboat/Hayden Saturdays:
  • FLL-HDN Flight #45, 7:31 a.m. – 10:27 a.m
  • HDN-FLL Flight #48, 11:22 a.m. – 5:20 p.m
• Long Beach (LGB) to/from Steamboat/Hayden Wednesday & Saturdays:
  • LGB-HDN Flight #820, 11:14 a.m. – 2:15 p.m
  • HDN-LGB Flight #821, 3:00 p.m. – 4:14 p.m

Montana

They will be entering Montana for the first time with seasonal flights to Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport (BZN) from Long Beach. Service will begin December 13th. Fares from $139 one way. Flights will run on Thursdays and Sundays as follows:

• LGB-BZN Flight #10, 10:48 a.m. – 2:27 p.m
• BZN-LGB Flight #9, 3:12 p.m. – 4:51 p.m

Burbank/Boston

They will be adding a non stop flight between Boston & Burbank. Fares start at $139 and flights will begin on September 5th, 2018. Daily routes are as follows:

• BOS-BUR Flight #2339, 3:28 p.m. – 6:48 p.m
• BUR-BOS Flight #2338, 8:08 p.m. – 4:40 a.m. (+1)

Increased Frequencies

JetBlue also announced they would be increasing the frequency on several popular routes they already run. I won’t rehash it all because it’s quite boring, but you can read that here.

Our Verdict

This should make JetBlue points more usable for some readers on the West Coast, but obviously not all. Will be interesting to see how hard JetBlue push into this market, they pulled back on the Virgin America acquisition because they thought Alaska was overpaying but part of that was surely done to try and block JetBlue expanding into their area.