JetBlue Airways is further expanding its Fort Lauderdale focus city operation with new nonstop service to Cleveland and Detroit effective April 30. The Cleveland flight will in theory replace United who is dropping the route the same month. Ultra-ow cost carriers Frontier and Spirit also fly the Fort Lauderdale-Cleveland route nonstop. The New York-based carrier (who Florida Republican leaders failed to convince to relocate to the state in the late 2000’s) is now the largest airline at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.
In recent years JetBlue’s buildup from Fort Lauderdale has largely been focused on Latin America with Cartagena recently becoming the airline’s fourth nonstop South American destination from FLL. JetBlue serves 13 international destinations nonstop from Fort Lauderdale.
A criticism of JetBlue has often been that it neglects the Midwest for connecting the two coasts, Latin America and the Caribbean. These new flights serve to begin filling the map in the middle of the country for JetBlue from Fort Lauderdale.
Full press release below:
| JetBlue Adds Even More Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood Flights | ||||||||||||||||
| New Routes to Cleveland and Detroit Announced TodayFares Starting at $23 From Cleveland and $49 From Detroit One Way (a) for Travel April 30 – June 18, 2015, Available Until January 9, 2015FORT LAUDERDALE, FL — (Marketwired) — 01/07/15 — JetBlue Airways (NASDAQ: JBLU) today announces additional service from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL), where it is the largest airline. Nonstop flights to both Cleveland Hopkins International Airport (CLE) and Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW) will begin on April 30, 2015. The announcement comes on top of the seven nonstop routes launched by JetBlue from its South Florida focus city last year. JetBlue currently offers up to 74 daily flights to 33 destinations from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood and its plan is to grow to 100 daily flights by 2017 to meet the increasing customer demand in South Florida for JetBlue’s high-quality experience.
“As Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood’s largest airline and the one airline servicing South Florida renowned for its customer focus, JetBlue is pleased to extend the JetBlue effect and offer customers in Cleveland and Detroit a superior customer experience when flying to Florida,” said Scott Laurence, Senior Vice President, Airline Planning. “Some airlines use low fares as an excuse to provide substandard service; these key Midwest cities deserve much better. We have proven that low fares can come with higher standards.” The airline added Detroit to its route map in March 2014, with nonstop service from its Boston focus city, and Cleveland will become JetBlue’s 88th destination on April 30, also with flights from Boston. To celebrate the two new routes, JetBlue is offering introductory one-way fares from both cities: $23 from Cleveland and $49 from Detroit. The fares are available for one way travel (a) between April 30 and June 18, 2015, on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays. All introductory fare tickets much be purchased by January 9. “The addition of new direct routes from Cleveland and Detroit to Greater Fort Lauderdale connects us with two important cities. These new JetBlue flights will provide more accessibility for cruise passengers, vacationers and for those visiting family and friends to discover all that the Greater Fort Lauderdale region has to offer,” said Kim Butler, Vice President, Marketing, Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau. The new routes will be operated by a 150-seat Airbus A320, on which customers can enjoy JetBlue’s award-winning service that includes unlimited free snacks and non-alcoholic drinks, free seatback entertainment, and the most legroom in coach of any U.S. airline, based on average fleet-wide seat pitch. Schedules for JetBlue’s New Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood Destinations Announced Today
About JetBlue Airways |
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The Florida Squeeze 
great for JetBlue having nonstop service to Cleveland and Detroit now their not ignoring the midwest.
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