JetBlue laid out its Fort Lauderdale expansion plans on Wednesday, with backing from powerful Florida politicians.
It's a maneuver to avoid a potential showdown with the Department of Justice over JetBlue's proposed acquisition of Spirit Airlines, whose largest focus city is Fort Lauderdale.
Fort Lauderdale is a major focus city for JetBlue, too, and the carrier is increasing its commitment beyond the Spirit acquisition.
By 2027, JetBlue plans to fly to approximately 30 destinations from Fort Lauderdale that are not currently served by either JetBlue or Spirit. In addition, JetBlue would increase flight frequencies from Fort Lauderdale to approximately 30 markets that JetBlue and Spirit already serve.
The step-up in Fort Lauderdale service would occur should the Spirit acquisition win approval from DOJ competition regulators.
In a rare coupling, Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Democratic South Florida congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schulz each issued a statement of support for JetBlue.
A combined 46% market share
JetBlue and Spirit entered into their agreement last July with hopes of closing the deal by the first half of 2023. But their potential for market dominance in Fort Lauderdale, where Bureau of Transportation Statistics show that the carriers account for a combined market share of 46%, figures to be one of the primary challenges for the proposed tie-up.
Among the new destinations JetBlue said it would offer by 2027 from Fort Lauderdale are Cincinnati; Minneapolis; Memphis; Savannah, Ga; Liberia, Costa Rica; Antigua; and Belize.
The carrier also said that acquiring Spirit would position JetBlue to launch Europe service from Fort Lauderdale.
As part of its argument for DOJ approval, JetBlue also said that Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport would be a tougher competitor to nearby Miami International with a JetBlue-Spirit merger. From Fort Lauderdale, JetBlue and Spirit currently serve 66 of the top 100 markets that are available from Miami and fall within the range of JetBlue's current and planned fleets, JetBlue said. But after completing the planned expansion, JetBlue would serve Fort Lauderdale from 90 of those markets.
To emphasize its commitment to Fort Lauderdale, and perhaps to curry favor with Florida politicians, JetBlue announced one new route Wednesday, a nonstop between Fort Lauderdale and Tallahassee, competing with Florida-based regional carrier Silver Airways. Daily service between those cities is to begin next January.
In January 2022, JetBlue agreed to partner with Fort Lauderdale's Broward County on the airport's planned $300 million, five-gate Terminal 5, which is slated for a 2026 opening.
In a nod to concerns about the potential dominance of a combined JetBlue and Spirit in Fort Lauderdale, JetBlue has said it will relinquish some of its gates there to ultralow-cost carriers, the largest of which include Frontier and Allegiant.
All told, JetBlue said the combined airline would offer more than 250 daily departures from Fort Lauderdale by 2027, up from approximately 160 this month.