A month after Wow Air announced bankruptcy, another low-cost player is stepping into the transatlantic flight market. The U.S. LCC JetBlue (JBLU) is planning to launch its first flights to Europe, vowing to bring “tremendous effect” on ticket prices and traffic along the way.
JetBlue (JBLU) revealed plans of launching multiple daily flights from New York and Boston to London, on April 10, 2019. The carrier is still “evaluating which London airports it will serve” once the flights begin in 2021.
“The big airlines will tell you that competition has never been more robust, but the smaller airlines have never found it harder to get access,” Joanna Geraghty, president and chief operating officer of JetBlue (JBLU) is quoted in a statement. “It’s time for regulators here in the U.S. and across Europe to create conditions where smaller carriers and new entrants can thrive, instead of letting the giant airlines get even bigger through joint ventures. Given a chance to compete, JetBlue (JBLU) can have a tremendous effect on lowering fares and stimulating traffic”.
To operate the new routes, JetBlue (JBLU) plans to “initially” change its existing order of 85 Airbus A321neos to include 13 A321LRs, called by the manufacturer the world’s longest-range single-aisle commercial aircraft.