JetBlue Adds New Routes to Florida

JetBlue Airways announced Thursday that it’s adding service in a big way across the country, including new routes in Pittsburgh.

JetBlue will add nonstop service to Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach beginning in October. Currently, Pittsburgh has nonstop service to Fort Lauderdale on Southwest and Spirit, and service to West Palm Beach on Allegiant.

The Pittsburgh news is part of a larger announcement of 30 new JetBlue routes. JetBlue last served Fort Lauderdale from Pittsburgh in January 2019. Currently, the airline also offers nonstop service to Boston from PIT.

Pittsburgh airport officials said the routes to Florida support a trend of growing leisure travel as pandemic restrictions ease across the country.

“As leisure travel has increased in Pittsburgh over the last six weeks, we are thrilled that JetBlue will give passengers in our market more options when traveling to South Florida,” said Bryan Dietz, Vice President of Air Service Development. “We are encouraged to see travelers returning to the skies for summer vacation or to reconnect with family.”

JetBlue officials said they selected routes where customers are showing interest in traveling.

“Coronavirus has transformed airline route maps, and as we begin to see small signs of recovery, we continue to be flexible with our network plans to respond to demand trends and generate cash in support of our business,” said Scott Laurence, head of revenue and planning, JetBlue.

The news comes as other airlines cautiously feel out consumer demand for air travel. Other airline growth at PIT includes Southwest’s additional weekly frequencies to Tampa and Chicago-Midway in June and Atlanta, Baltimore and Orlando in July. Other key routes returning this month and in July on a variety of carriers include New York-LaGuardia, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Houston, Nashville and others.

Still, passenger numbers remain significantly down due to the pandemic. According to the airport’s May report, passengers compared to May 2019 are down 89 percent. However, compared to April 2020, May’s nearly