American and JetBlue have announced a series
of new routes and codeshares for next fall and beyond as part of their
Northeast Alliance in the Boston and New York markets.
Among the planned routes are JetBlue's first ever service to Canada and a new American flight to India.
From
LaGuardia, JetBlue plans to launch six routes between October and next
summer, while American will add three routes on Nov. 2. JetBlue said it
will operate more than two dozen daily departures from LaGuardia by the
end of the year and more than 50 departures per day by next summer.
From
JFK, American will launch three-times weekly New Delhi service on Oct.
31. JetBlue is planning six route launches from JFK between October and
summer 2022, including service starting that summer to its first
Canadian city, Vancouver.
Vancouver is also be one of five new
markets that JetBlue plans to begin serving from Boston between October
and next summer. American will launch three new Boston routes on Nov. 2.
Overall,
the two carriers plan to add 39 codeshares to the nearly 80 flights
they already codeshare on. JetBlue will place its code on 24 additional
American flights, and American will place its code on 15 additional
JetBlue flights.
"Since the inception of our partnership with
JetBlue, we have committed to offering customers more flights, more
destinations and a better experience when traveling," Vasu Raja,
American's chief revenue officer, said in a prepared remark.
The
announcement of numerous routes that won't start until mid-fall and
beyond comes as the Northeast Alliance faces antitrust scrutiny.
Spirit,
Southwest and United are among the parties that have formally objected
either to the JetBlue-American alliance itself or to the DOT's approval
process of the alliance. Low-cost carriers, led by Spirit, argue that
the partnerships reduces consumer choice and competition.
The
alliance was approved by the Transportation Department during the waning
days of the Trump administration, but in late January the new Biden DOT
said it planned to examine whether the tie-up should be subject to a
second, more public, review.
Last week the Wall Street Journal,
citing anonymous sources familiar with the matter, reported that Justice
Department has stepped up its antitrust probe of the partnership.
In
their announcement Wednesday, JetBlue and American emphasized that the
planned service expansions out of New York and Boston were being enabled
by the Northeast Alliance, which they've said will help them more
quickly recover from the Covid-19 pandemic.
New JetBlue destinations
from LaGuardia are to include Jacksonville and Sarasota in Florida as
well as Nashville; New Orleans; Portland, Maine; and Savannah, Ga. New
American destinations are include Houston Bush; Oklahoma City, Okla.;
and Omaha, Neb.
New JetBlue destinations from Boston are to include
San Antonio, Texas; Kansas City, Mo.; Milwaukee; and Asheville, N.C. in
addition to Vancouver. New American destinations are to include
Cincinnati, St. Louis and Toronto.
New JetBlue destinations from JFK
are to include San Pedro Sula, Honduras; Puerto Vallarta; San Antonio;
Kansas City; and Milwaukee, along with Vancouver.
New Delhi is the lone JFK route American announced Wednesday.