JetBlue will end service at the Long Beach Airport as part of a move to consolidate its routes in the Los Angeles region, the company announced Thursday, July 9.
The last day of the airline’s service in Long Beach will be Oct. 6. Many of the routes JetBlue offered in Long Beach will go to the Los Angeles International Airport. The airline will, however, maintain its service at the Hollywood Burbank Airport, and the Ontario, San Diego and Palm Springs international airports.
“We will always be grateful for the investment JetBlue made in our community and the tremendous service they offered our passengers,” Long Beach Airport Director Cynthia Guidry said in a statement. “We understand that the aviation industry – now more than ever – is constantly changing and airlines nationwide are making difficult business decisions to stay competitive in light of the pandemic.”
The destinations that JetBlue will provide nonstop service to and from LAX, effective Oct. 7, are:
- Austin-Bergstrom International Airport;
- Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport (seasonal);
- Las Vegas McCarran International Airport;
- Reno-Tahoe International Airport;
- Salt Lake City International Airport;
- San Francisco International Airport; and
- Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.
Service to the Portland International Airport will not transition to LAX.
Customers can buy tickets for the new routes starting Friday, July 10.
“LAX is one of JetBlue’s most successful markets and offers the valuable opportunity to grow significantly both domestically and internationally while introducing our low fares on more routes,” Scott Laurence, the airline’s head of revenue and planning, said in a statement. “The transition to LAX, serving as the anchor of our focus city strategy on the West Coast, sets JetBlue up for success in Southern California.”
There are currently about 150 JetBlue crew members based at LAX and 627 based in Long Beach. The Long Beach personnel “will be given the opportunity to transition to positions to LAX or other airports,” JetBlue spokesperson Philip Stewart said in an email.
In addition to the routes being transferred from Long Beach, the company said that over the next five years, JetBlue will add more domestic and international destinations from LAX, with plans to reach roughly 70 flights per day by 2025.
LAX officials, for their part, said they were pleased with the airline’s plans for expansion.
“We are excited that the airline has chosen to grow its LAX operation beginning in October,” Justin Erbacci, the CEO of Los Angeles World Airports, said in a statement. “JetBlue will be an important part of LAX’s comeback from historic lows in passenger traffic, and our guests now will have even more choices.”
JetBlue currently holds 17 flight slots at the Long Beach Airport. Guidry said she expects “strong interest in the slots as they become available.”
Southwest Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines and Delta Air Lines are all currently on the waiting list to take over newly available flight slots at the airport.
Thursday’s news comes after years of tension between the airline and Long Beach, which began in 2017 when the City Council voted against a plan that would have allowed international flights at the airport. JetBlue at the time said it would “evaluate its future plans for Long Beach, the greater Los Angeles area and California” because of the decision.
The city and the airline have since tussled over late landings and flight slot usage.
JetBlue has reduced the number of flights offered at Long Beach in recent years, sometimes citing Long Beach’s policies. But a decision to cut back on flights earlier this year was because the impacted routes were “not meeting expectations,” according to a company statement.
Stewart said the decision to pull out of Long Beach was prompted by the coronavirus pandemic, which led to a steep drop in bookings and a rise in cancellations across the industry.
“The impact of COVID-19 on our industry has forced us to take a hard look at our remaining Long Beach Airport operation,” he said, “which continues to financially underperform our network despite various efforts through the years – including seeking to bring international flights – in order to make the airport succeed.”
With LAX as the anchor in the region, Stewart wrote, “we can fulfill our growth ambitions in greater LA and, in the longer term, offer international flying that is not possible in Long Beach.”
JetBlue has offered flights out of the Long Beach Airport since 2001, shortly after the airline was founded.
“While we recognize it is bittersweet to say farewell to a community that’s been part of our company’s story from our earliest days,” Stewart said, “this move is the right one for JetBlue and our future as we think about our next decade of growth.”
