Great news for Daytona Beach International Airport – JetBlue Airways who the airport has long courted will begin nonstop service to New York (JFK) in February 2016. With the addition of Daytona Beach to the JetBlue network, perhaps Melbourne which has recently rebounded after losing most air service between 2001 and 2009 is next for the New York-based carrier? Full press release after the jump.

NEW YORK, NY — (Marketwired) — 02/13/15 — JetBlue Airways (NASDAQ: JBLU), New York’s Hometown Airline™, will launch a new route to Florida’s Daytona Beach International Airport (DAB) in February 2016. The airline will offer daily service from its home at John F. Kennedy International Airport’s (JFK) Terminal 5 — providing the Daytona Beach area with its only nonstop service to New York City. Daytona Beach will be JetBlue’s eighth in the Sunshine State. Tickets will be available for sale closer to launch date.

“This is great news for this community and our airport. This is the result of the community’s support that County Council has received to recruit JetBlue as an important new business partner at Daytona Beach International Airport,” said Jim Dinneen, Volusia County Manager.

“We couldn’t be more excited to launch yet another route that shows our deep commitment to Central Florida,” said Scott Laurence, JetBlue’s Senior Vice President of Airline Planning. “We also have a long-standing relationship with Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and are pleased to give the academic community there a new option for travel.”

The new service to Daytona Beach will create a direct link between JetBlue’s main base of operations in New York and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, the world’s largest, fully accredited university specializing in aviation and aerospace. In 2007, JetBlue partnered with Embry-Riddle to launch the University Gateway Program, a unique opportunity that creates a path to a career with the airline for aspiring aviators.

“This new route will provide a much needed service for our growing community and strengthen an already great relationship between Embry-Riddle and JetBlue,” said Dr. John P. Johnson, President of Embry-Riddle.

JetBlue’s flights to Daytona Beach will be operated on a 150-seat Airbus A320 — the largest aircraft to serve the airport on a regular basis — and will offer the airline’s award-winning service featuring assigned and comfortable seating; complimentary and unlimited name-brand snacks; more than 100 channels of free SIRIUSXM® radio programming and 36 channels of free, live DIRECTV® programming on personal seatback televisions; and the most legroom in coach. (a)

Customers traveling between Daytona Beach and New York can enjoy onward connections to several cities in the Northeast with JetBlue as well as cities across the globe through JetBlue’s three-dozen international airline partners.

About JetBlue Airways
JetBlue is New York’s Hometown Airline™, and a leading carrier in Boston, Fort Lauderdale/ Hollywood, Los Angeles (Long Beach), Orlando, and San Juan. JetBlue carries more than 32 million customers a year to 87 cities in the U.S., Caribbean, and Latin America with an average of 825 daily flights. Upcoming destinations include Cleveland on April 30; Reno-Tahoe, Nev. on May 28; and Grenada on June 11, 2015 (subject to receipt of government operating authority). For more information please visit jetblue.com.

(a) JetBlue offers the most legroom in coach, based on average fleet-wide seat pitch for U.S. airlines.

   MEDIA CONTACTJetBlue Corporate Communications Tel: +1 718 709 3089corpcomm@jetblue.com

Source: JetBlue