The Dominican Republic stands to gain with JetBlue announcing actions to improve performance. To generate the funds to offer better service, the company recently announced cuts of several European and services in the Americas to free up aircraft capacity to be used on its most profitable areas, namely in the Caribbean. JetBlue has the largest number of flights of any US airline to the Dominican Republic.
JetBlue has announced it will be adding flights from San Juan (SJU) in Puerto Rico to Santiago (STI) in the Dominican Republic. The announcement comes at a time when JetBlue is increasing its flights linking Puerto Rico, upping these to serve 18 destinations and an average 40 daily departures from the Muñoz Marín International Airport in San Juan.
As reported, the announcement comes as JetBlue realigns itself to focus more on leisure travel in 2024 amid ongoing efforts to get the airline back to profitability announced earlier in March 2024
The company is cutting several services connecting US cities to Europe. JetBlue has also recently announced a significant change in its network by eliminating five US cities from its schedule and cutting another 16 routes. This move aims to refocus the airline’s schedule on better-performing routes to improve on-time performance and return to profitability.
Last year, the courts ended the tie-up between JetBlue and American Airlines in the so-called Northeast Alliance, prompting the carrier to rethink its East Coast strategy. Then, in January, another judge blocked the airline’s bid to take over low-cost competitor Spirit Airlines, which had a knock-on effect on the carrier’s LAX plans.
The new route changes will also help the airline during a time when aircraft availability is limited — particularly with some of our aircraft grounded due to Pratt & Whitney GTF engine inspections.
Joanna Geraghty, named JetBlue’s CEO in February 2024, has explained that the current route restructuring and careful deployment of limited capacity to those proven leisure and VFR (visiting friends and relatives) markets where the carrier is strongest is part of the back-to-basics strategy.
In the Dominican Republic JetBlue has been criticized for cancelling flights and many delays. As reported, JetBlue is one of the worst US carriers regarding on-time performance. The new CEO hopes to cut costs and improve the brand’s reputation with the reshuffling of flights and destinations.
“As we operate in one of the most complex and challenging air spaces, operational reliability is foundational to all of our priorities, helping us deliver a better customer experience while also improving revenues,” Geraghty has said.
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Diario Libre
11 June 2024