JetBlue to reduce Newark, LaGuardia footprint as it expands in Florida
A JetBlue Airways plane lands near the Air Traffic Control tower at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on October 7, 2025.
Joe Raedle | Getty Images
JetBlue Airlines Fort Lauderdale, Florida, will close its flight attendant base at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey and technical operations bases there and at LaGuardia Airport in New York this fall in an effort to cut costs and strengthen service, it told CNBC on Wednesday, but said no staff would lose their jobs.
JetBlue said seasonal service between Newark and Los Angeles and Las Vegas is ending. It was stated that personnel may make offers or be transferred to other bases.
JetBlue President Marty St. “We operate in a rapidly changing environment where competitors are constantly adding, reducing and modifying flights based on market conditions,” George and COO Warren Christie said in a staff memo seen by CNBC. “We must be equally agile by entering markets where we see opportunity and exiting markets that no longer support our long-term goals. Standing still while competitors make moves is not an option.”
The airline is currently ranked first in Fort Lauderdale, but was previously ranked second behind South Florida-based discounter Spirit Airlines, which collapsed on May 2. Competitors also added service to the area.
JetBlue said early Wednesday that it will expand daily cross-country flights with horizontal business-class Mint from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to San Diego on Nov. 19 and add more Mint-equipped flights to San Francisco and Los Angeles this winter.
This will include eight daily flights from Fort Lauderdale to Los Angeles and three daily flights to San Francisco.
JetBlue spent years fixing unprofitable routes and cutting costs to return to stable profitability. St. Its last profitable quarter was two years ago and the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport move was a big part of its strategy, George told CNBC earlier this month. The airline is exploring space for a high-end airport lounge there, too, he said.
Excellently equipped aircraft are lucrative and these seats carry a huge premium. On Jan. 10, a one-way Mint seat from Fort Lauderdale to Los Angeles surpassed $3,000 and reached as high as $4,522. The basic bus ticket on this route has dropped to $244.
JetBlue executives told staff Wednesday that they knew the discounts at Newark raised questions about JetBlue’s plans at LaGuardia Airport, where Spirit, a one-time acquisition target, operated out of the Marine Air Terminal until its closure.
“Future opportunities that may come from the LGA slot auction process remain uncertain and will take time to develop,” they said. “We must make decisions based on the operation we know we will fly, not on potential outcomes that may or may not occur in the future.”
JetBlue executives stated that working at airports such as LaGuardia leads to high costs.
“We’re much, much smaller at LaGuardia than we were four years ago because it’s $40 [enplanement fee] For us it’s the airport. And the fountain is really beautiful, but … I think people would rather have low fares than a really beautiful fountain,” St. George said at a JPMorgan industry conference in March, referring to the 25-foot-tall water feature in the airport’s Terminal B.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates LaGuardia and Newark airports, did not immediately comment.
