JetBlue Airways is not ruling out flying from multiple London airports when it launches its first transatlantic routes in 2021.
Speaking to Bloomberg TV’s Guy Johnson at the World Aviation Festival in London today, the airline’s president and chief operating officer, Joanna Geraghty, said JetBlue was looking at London Stansted, London Luton, London Heathrow and London Gatwick, but she could give no firm news.
The much anticipated arrival of JetBlue into London and the carrier’s first transatlantic routes, are set to have an impact on the market. JetBlue has already revealed it will fly from Boston and New York in 2021, but has not said which airport or airports it will fly into.
The US carrier’s routes into London will no doubt ramp up competition on transatlantic flights and potentially drive prices down. Geraghty said the route sectors are now only operated by large joint ventures and it is looking forward to the start of services.
Geraghty said JetBlue will have partners when it starts flying to London and in answering a question from the floor, on whether one will be easyJet, she said “we will see”.
JetBlue’s president also talked about the current network challenges, and she said a third of the carrier’s routes are to Caribbean and South American destinations, and these are proving volatile, especially further south.
On other business, she said that JetBlue’s main focuses in dealing with uncertainty with evolution of fare options, costs initiatives, focus on fleet maintenance and launching in Europe.
Geraghty said JetBlue is a five per cent player in the US and growth is in high single digits and the carrier expects to keep it that way, despite Airbus neo aircraft delays.
On sustainability, she said the airline is exploring electric ground equipment, biofuels, battery-operated take-off and landing, technology and more, but “a concern is regulators making wrong decisions” that may negatively impact the airline industry.
