JetBlue to begin service at Manchester-Boston Airport

FILE - A JetBlue airplane is shown at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, March 16, 2017. A federal judge is siding with the Biden administration and blocking JetBlue Airways from buying Spirit Airlines, saying the $3.8 billion deal would reduce competition. The Justice Department sued to block the merger, saying it would drive up fares by eliminating Spirit, the nation’s biggest low-cost airline. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

FILE - A JetBlue airplane is shown at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, March 16, 2017. A federal judge is siding with the Biden administration and blocking JetBlue Airways from buying Spirit Airlines, saying the $3.8 billion deal would reduce competition. The Justice Department sued to block the merger, saying it would drive up fares by eliminating Spirit, the nation’s biggest low-cost airline. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File) Seth Wenig

By DAVID BROOKS

Concord Monitor

Published: 07-25-2024 4:31 PM

After years of trying to lure JetBlue to New Hampshire, Manchester airport has finally succeeded.

The nation’s biggest discount airline announced Wednesday that in January it will start year-round service to Orlando and winter seasonal service to Ft. Lauderdale and Ft. Myers, all in Florida, from Manchester-Boston Regional Airport.

The airport has been on something or a roll lately but this, the latest addition to service from New Hampshire’s biggest airport, is the most welcome.

A year ago, start-up Avelo Airlines arrived and this week it expanded, adding routes to Charlotte, N.C., and central Florida, while in February, Sun Country Airlines announced service to Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn., and start-up Breeze Airways announced service to Charleston, S.C., and several Florida locations,

All these are discount airlines like JetBlue, but JetBlue is bigger and far more established. Manchester-Boston Airport has long tried to get it here, but has struggled to be noticed in the shadow of Boston’s Logan Airport, where JetBlue has long been operating.

It’s unclear if Wednesday’s announcement by JetBlue is related to the company’s failed attempt to merge with Spirit Airlines, which had a big presence at the Manchester airport until it abruptly pulled out earlier this year. JetBlue’s announcement came as part of a number of additions and reductions of routes, including additional flights to Providence, R.I., and Portland, Maine, and the dropping of three routes from Logan Airport.

Spirit arrived in Manchester in 2021 as the first new airline to show up here in 17 years. Its arrival was heralded as a sign of rebirth after a decade of declining traffic at the airport so the departure was a blow — but that blow has been greatly softened by all the new airlines and routes.

Southwest Airlines remains the biggest airline at Manchester-Boston, carrying roughly half the passengers that use the airport.

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