JetBlue is doubling down on Florida in the wake of Spirit’s collapse — a boon for Sunshine State travelers, but bad news for many customers elsewhere in its network.
The airline confirmed to Business Insider on Wednesday that it’s pulling out of 11 routes this summer, including leaving Manchester-Boston Regional Airport in New Hampshire altogether.
Routes from two other New England airports, including Hartford, Connecticut, and Providence, Rhode Island, are also on the chopping block, as well as five routes from New Jersey’s Newark Liberty International Airport.
The reason? To create a stronghold in Fort Lauderdale.
“JetBlue is making targeted schedule adjustments, including ending service on a small number of underperforming routes and redeploying aircraft to support growth in Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport,” a spokesperson said.
The company acknowledged this is a “disappointing” decision, but the move will allow JetBlue to “better align flying with customer demand and strengthen our focus city strategy in South Florida.”
Many Florida customers will likely welcome JetBlue’s growing presence, especially those who used to rely on Spirit for cheap flights until it ceased operations on May 2. Data from the aviation analytics company Cirium shows the carrier has nearly 30,000 more flights scheduled in Fort Lauderdale this year than in 2025.
But JetBlue’s aggressive scale-up in Fort Lauderdale also means it has to trim fat elsewhere.
The hardest-hit city is Manchester, about 50 miles from Boston airport and often used as an alternative to the city’s busy hub. JetBlue only started flying there about 18 months ago, but will now completely retreat. It already stopped flying to Fort Lauderdale and Fort Myers in early May; Orlando service will end July 8.
The airport said in a statement to Business Insider that it is “very disappointed” in JetBlue’s decision.
“JetBlue shared that they have a ‘strategic imperative to backfill FLL capacity very quickly,’ and as a result had to ‘make a tough call as to how to best support national connectivity in a time of capacity crisis,'” a spokesperson said.
They added that despite the airport’s best efforts to market JetBlue, it wasn’t enough to “overcome their ongoing business challenges,” particularly the spike in jet fuel prices.
Here are the 11 axed routes:
- Manchester to Orlando
- Manchester to Fort Myers
- Manchester to Fort Lauderdale
- Hartford to Tampa
- Newark to Aruba
- Newark to Cancún, Mexico
- Newark to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
- Newark to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
- Newark to Tampa
- Orlando to San Jose, Costa Rica
- Providence to San Juan, Puerto Rico
The Providence route is a seasonal suspension — as of now, Cirium data shows JetBlue is scheduled to resume service in December, so it’s unclear whether this is a permanent cut.
JetBlue said customers affected by the cuts can be rebooked on alternate JetBlue flights or receive a full refund.
Florida is especially important as JetBlue posts consistent losses
The latest shakeup suggests JetBlue is increasingly putting its eggs in the Fort Lauderdale basket after years of network reshuffling and profitability struggles, worsened by its failed 2024 merger with Spirit, a consumer shift toward premium flying, and rising fuel prices tied to the war in Iran.
JetBlue reported revenues of about $9 billion in 2025 with a net loss of about $600 million. It also reported a loss in the first quarter of this year, as well as losses in 2024 and 2023; its last posted yearly profit was in 2019.
Company CEO Joanna Geraghty squashed bankruptcy rumors earlier this month when, during an interview with the public radio station WBUR, she said that Chapter 11 is not on the table for JetBlue.
JetBlue’s founder, David Neeleman, who is no longer a part of the company and is now the CEO of the competing carrier Breeze Airways, said in April that JetBlue could file for bankruptcy if its debts, exacerbated by spiking oil prices, become unsustainable.
The financial situation has made Fort Lauderdale that much more important, and JetBlue wasted no time gobbling up the pieces left behind by Spirit. It immediately announced 11 new routes and its intention to cement itself as the airport’s leading airline.
Cirium numbers show its growing dominance: JetBlue is operating 6% more flights from the Florida city this month than in April and now holds about 33% of the market share — the largest of any carrier in the airport. That’s roughly 11% more than it held in 2025.
The next largest competitor in the city, Delta, has about 12% of the market, by comparison. Southwest, American, and United collectively hold about 25%.
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