JetBlue Plans to Double Service from Washington National and LaGuardia

JetBlue Airways is planning nearly a doubling of its service from New York LaGuardia Airport (LGA) and Washington Reagan National Airport (DCA) by this summer, increasing flights at each of the two airports by eight round-trips a day to at least 16 daily flights.

The growth is made possible by JetBlue Airways’ recent acquisition of slots through an FAA auction of slots at New York LaGuardia and Washington Reagan National Airport.

Delta Air Lines and US Airways were required to divest the slots by the U.S. Department of Transportation so the two carriers could complete the large-scale slot-swap deal they were planning at LaGuardia and National, Delta obtaining many more slots at the New York airport and US Airways more slots at the Washington D.C. airport.

JetBlue Airways' logo

“By seizing the opportunity to invest in the rare slot pairs made available in our hometown of New York City and in our nation’s capital, JetBlue is comfortably poised for organic growth,” says Scott Laurence, JetBlue’s vice president of network planning and partnerships.

At New York LaGuardia, JetBlue will add daily service to three new Florida destinations from June 11: Fort Myers’ Southwest Florida International Airport (RSW), Sarasota Bradenton International Airport (SRQ) and Tampa International Airport (TPA). The airline will serve Tampa twice daily from LGA, with Fort Myers and Sarasota/Bradenton each seeing one daily flight.

In addition, JetBlue will boost service to its existing LaGuardia destinations by adding two more daily flights to Orlando (for a total of four), and one additional flight each to Fort Lauderdale Hollywood International Airport (for a total of six) and West Palm Beach (for a total of two).

JetBlue’s schedule between LaGuardia and Fort Myers calls for its daily flight to depart LGA at 7:29 a.m. and land at RSW at 10:38 a.m. In the other direction, the flight will leave RSW at 11:40 a.m. and arrive at LGA at 2:24 p.m.

The carrier’s schedule between LaGuardia and Sarasota Bradenton will see its daily flight push back from the gate at LGA at 1:35 p.m. and touch down at SRQ at 4:32 p.m. In the other direction, the flight will begin taxiing at SRQ at 5:35 p.m. and get to LGA to 8:20 p.m.

The Airbus A320 bearing JetBlue Airways' new 'Building Blocks' tailfin color scheme, designed by Long Beach staffer Troy Bokosky, takes off for Long Beach and its welcoming ceremony

JetBlue’s schedule between LaGuardia and Tampa calls for the first of its two daily flights to leave LGA at 6:10 a.m. and reach TPA at 8:53 a.m. The second flight is timed to depart LGA at 4:00 p.m. and land at TPA at 6:57 p.m.

In the other direction, the first daily Tampa-LaGuardia flight is timed to begin taxiing at TPA at 9:54 a.m., in order to make a 12:29 p.m. arrival at LGA. The second flight pushes back from the gate at TPA at 7:04 p.m., in order to get to LGA at 9:52 p.m.

At Washington’s close-in Ronald Reagan National Airport, JetBlue will boost its high-frequency service to Boston, adding three more daily round-trips for a total of 10 per day, beginning on June 11. Combined with its service between Boston and both Baltimore Washington and Washington Dulles International Airports, JetBlue continues to offer the most flights between Boston and the United States’ National Capital Region.

Also in June, JetBlue will add new daily service from Washington Reagan National Airport to Tampa and boost its existing service to Fort Lauderdale and Orlando. Tampa will be served once daily and two additional daily flights will be added to both Fort Lauderdale (for a total of three) and Orlando (also for a total of three).

JetBlue Airways, which has a total of 105 Embraer 190s in service or on order and is one of the largest operators of Embraer's E-Jets family, operates its 190s in 100-seat configuration. DE-Jets have become popular with passengers because they are fairly large jets but their four-abreast seating configuration means there are no middle seats

JetBlue’s schedule between Reagan National and Tampa will see its daily flight depart DCA at 11:45 a.m. and arrive at TPA at 1:57 p.m. In the other direction, JetBlue’s flight will leave TPA at 2:40 p.m. and touch down at DCA at 4:58 p.m.

The airline’s schedule between Reagan National and Boston Logan International Airport (BOS) calls for the first flight to leave DCA at 6:05 a.m. and arrive at BOS at 7:34 a.m. Next is a 7:40 a.m. departure, arriving at 9:12 a.m. The next flight leaves DCA at 8:40 a.m. and lands at BOS at 10:11 a.m. Then comes a 10:44 a.m. departure, landing at BOS at 12:16 p.m. This is followed by a 12:10 p.m. departure, reaching BOS at 1:40 p.m.

JetBlue’s daily Washington National-Boston schedule then sees a flight leave DCA at 2:45 p.m., gettting to BOS at 4:20 p.m. Next comes a 3:35 p.m. flight, touching down at BOS at 5:10 p.m. In the rush-hour period, a flight is timed to leave DCA at 5:39 p.m. in order to make a 7:18 p.m. arrival at BOS. A 6:20 p.m. DCA departure touches down at BOS at 7:59 p.m. and then the last JetBlue Airways flight of the day on the route leaves DCA 8:35 p.m. and reaches BOS at 10:07 p.m.

JetBlue Airways introduced its 'Barcode' tailfin livery design on a newly delivered Airbus A320 on September 7, 2010

In the other direction ,the day’s first JetBlue flight leaves BOS at 6:16 a.m. and gets to DCA at 7:54 a.m. A 7:19 a.m. flight from BOS arrives at DCA at 8:55 a.m. and then an 8:25 a.m. departure from Boston gets to DCA at 10:03 a.m. Next is a flight at 9:50 a.m., timed to land at DCA at 11:30 a.m. In late morning, an 11:00 a.m. BOS departure is timed to touch down at DCA 12:35 p.m.

The first Boston-Washington National flight in the afternoon is at 12:25 p.m., getting to DCA at 2:02 p.m. A 3:50 p.m. mid-afternoon flight lands at DCA at 5:28 p.m. and then a 6:15 p.m. departure from BOS arrives at DCA at 7:56 p.m. This is followed by a 7:15 p.m. flight from BOS, reaching DCA at 8:56 p.m. and JetBlue’s last Boston-Washington National flight departs BOS at 8:55 p.m., landing at DCA at 10:30 p.m.

To promote its new destinations and expanded schedule, JetBlue is offering a seat sale through March 12 for travel between June 11 and July 31, 2012 (blackout dates of June 29 to July 9 apply) at www.jetblue.com for all-in, one-way fares from $79 between Reagan National and Tampa; $99 between LaGuardia and Tampa; $109 between LaGuardia and Sarasota; and $119 between LaGuardia and  Fort Myers.

JetBlue Airways introduced a new aircraft tailfin design, named Blueberries, in Orlando, Florida on Tuesday, October 13, 2009. The new tailfin livery was JetBlue's ninth unique tail design

JetBlue has operated from New York LaGuardia since 2004 and currently provides non-stop service to three Florida destinations – Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood, Orlando and West Palm Beach – with up to 10 daily flights.

The airline began operations at Washington National in November 2010 and operates up to nine daily flights to its focus cities in Boston, Fort Lauderdale Hollywood, and Orlando.