June 23 (UPI) — JetBlue Airways, the fifth-largest airline in the United States, is ceasing service at Miami International Airport in an attempt to end less profitable routes.
The last flight for the low-cost carrier in Miami is scheduled for Sept. 3, officials told WFOR-TV. The airline first began operating at MIA in 2021.
The airport is the 10th busiest in the United States and serves several nations, including in Central and South America.
JetBlue informed MIA of the changes Friday, Greg Chin, communications director for Miami-Dade Aviation Department, told the Miami Herald.
Travelers who booked on flights after Sept. 3 “will have the option to fly via Fort Lauderdale or receive a full refund to their original form of payment,” JetBlue spokesperson Derek Dombrowski told the Miami Herald.
JetBlue operates only a single route into Miami International with two daily flights between the city and Boston’s Logan International Airport, according to Dombrowski. Connections are available from Boston, including New York’s JFK, where the airlines is based.
The airline was operating as many as 14 daily flights to and from Miami International at its peak, according to the Miami Herald.
JetBlue CEO Joanna Geraghty, in an internal memo shared with CBS News last week, said the company would “wind down underperforming routes” to reduce costs amid softening demand for travel.
“We’re hopeful demand and bookings will rebound, but even a recovery won’t fully offset the ground we’ve lost this year, and our path back to profitability will take longer than we’d hoped,” she said in the memo. “That means we’re still relying on borrowed cash to keep the airline running.”
Jet Blue has 1,000 daily flights switch 100 destinations, including European nations.
Jet Blue will continue to offer service at the two other South Florida airports: Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International and West Palm Beach. Elsewhere in Florida, service is offered in Orlando, Jacksonville, Sarasota/Bradenton, Tampa Bay, Tallahassee and Key West.
JetBlue is the second-largest carrier in Fort Lauderdale, behind Spirit, with about 6.8 million serve at that airport in 2024.
The airline also plans to cut other routes, including West Palm Beach-Buffalo, N.Y., The Points Guy reported.
American Airlines is the largest carrier at the Miami airport as it serves as a hub to Latin America and the Caribbean. Other major U.S. airlines serving the airport are Delta, Spirit, United and Frontier. Southwest doesn’t operate there.
