JetBlue announced today that they will begin flying between New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport and Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport beginning later this summer. While the airline had initially rejected temporary, seasonal slots they appear to have reversed course with today’s announcement. They have also announced that flights between Boston’s Logan Airport and Amsterdam will operate at some point in the future. This announcement comes on the heels of a Dutch Court ruling that stated the Dutch government failed to follow the law when it attempted to institute a flight cap at Schiphol Airport.
This marks JetBlue’s third European city and fourth airport as the airline currently flies to both London’s Heathrow and Gatwick airports and will begin service to Paris Charles de Gaulle in June. JetBlue CEO Robin Hayes was quoted saying, “for too long the U.S. legacy carriers, backed by their joint ventures with other global airlines that enjoy immunity from antitrust laws, have locked customers in with very expensive fares and mediocre service. Just like we’re doing in London and Paris, we will bring fares down and improve the experience for customers flying between the U.S. and Amsterdam.”
While it is great to see JetBlue expanding and increasing competition in the Transatlantic market, there is one major thing missing from the announcement, details. The airline has announced that flights will occur daily on the airline’s A321LR aircraft featuring 24 Mint Suites (Business Class) and 114 economy seats, though it hasn’t announced an exact schedule, fares or made the flights available for booking. JetBlue states that tickets will be available “in the coming weeks” for the flights between JFK-AMS.
The Boston to Amsterdam route has even less information, with the airline saying that flights will begin following the start of service from New York-JFK pending regulatory approval. It will be interesting to see what the schedule will look like once it is finally released and what connecting opportunities will be available in New York and Boston.
For more information on JetBlue’s offerings between the United States and Europe, check out the Fly with US, UK and Europe page here.
