Florida

New direct line to connect Fort Lauderdale with Tallahassee: JetBlue expected to expand services and operations in South Florida

FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida — The New York-based airline JetBlue said Wednesday that it will soon be able to fly from South Florida to the capital city.

The low-cost airline showed off its plan to expand service at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, which includes new service to and from Tallahassee.

JetBlue expects to have more than 250 flights a day at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport by 2027, when its planned merger with Spirit Airlines, based in Miramar, is finished.

JetBlue CEO Robin Hayes said in a statement, “As a customer-focused alternative to the high-fare legacy airline that dominates South Florida, we have grown quickly in Fort Lauderdale and are ready to speed up our growth once we merge with Spirit.” “You shouldn’t have to choose between a low price and a great trip. JetBlue has both, which is why we are in a great position to take on the big four airlines and make the market more competitive in Florida and across the country.”

With this plan, JetBlue would fly from Fort Lauderdale to about 30 places that neither JetBlue nor Spirit currently serves. Some of the places that people go to are Cincinnati, Minneapolis, Memphis, and Savannah, Georgia.

Also, it would mean more flights to about 30 other airports.

In a statement from JetBlue, Gov. Ron DeSantis said, “We applaud JetBlue for expanding and adding more direct flights between the capital and South Florida.” “These new low-cost flights will help Florida’s already strong economy even more by bringing more jobs to our towns and giving us more options for cheap flights within the state. We’re excited for JetBlue to keep growing in Fort Lauderdale.”

JetBlue said that the new service between Fort Lauderdale and Tallahassee would start in January 2024. In the coming months, tickets for flights will go on sale.

JetBlue’s head of revenue and planning, Dave Clark, said in a statement that there aren’t many cheap and easy ways to get from South Florida to the state capital. “Based on the success of our flight from Jacksonville to Fort Lauderdale, we’re happy to announce that this important flight within Florida will be the first of many new routes to come.”

Under the new plan, JetBlue passengers flying out of Fort Lauderdale would also be able to go to Europe. Antigua and Belize are two other places to visit outside of the United States.

JetBlue is already working with the airport to design and build a new Terminal 5, as well as a skybridge to the parking garage and a link to Terminal 4. The project should be done by the middle of 2026.

Lowell Bowen

From the time he was 8 years old Lowell knew he wanted to be on TV. Well, as people say one thing leads to another, that's how Lowell started his career in the news industry. Lowell has been part of The South Florida Daily since the very beginning.

Related Articles

Back to top button