Well, it’s done and dusted – JetBlue will have put its tickets to London on sale, with the airline managing to obtain slots at London Heathrow Airport and Gatwick Airport.
Services from New York JFK to London Heathrow will kick off the JetBlue party on the 11th of August, whilst a service to London Gatwick will kick off on the 29th of September.
The planned service for Boston will start in Summer 2022.
Planned operation is as follows:
London Heathrow
B6007 DEPART JFK 22:10 ARRIVE LHR 10:10+1 B6020 DEPART LHR 18:10 ARRIVE JFK 21:43 Commences 11th August Operates Daily Booked Equipment: Airbus A321LR
London Gatwick
B6043 DEPART JFK 19:50 ARRIVE LGW 07:55 B6044 DEPART LGW 12:00 ARRIVE JFK 15:33 Commences 29th September Operates Daily Booked Equipment: Airbus A321LR
The airline will operate out of Heathrow Terminal 2, whilst at Gatwick it will operate out of the
JetBlue will offer its Mint Studio, Mint Business Class product, as well as its Core Economy Products, offering 24 Mint seats and 117 Core Economy Seats (with 24 even more space seats).
A lot has been written about the passenger experience (including the build your custom dinner service), the Fly onboard Wi-Fi service, complimentary snacks and so on. Seat-Back IFE is also installed on these aircraft too.
Aggressive pricing
JetBlue is going in with some rather aggressive pricing, with lead-in prices starting at $1,979/£999 in Mint and $599/£329 in Core. All customers regardless of fare type will be allowed to bring one carry on, space permitting, and one personal item.
Tickets for the inaugural flight from Heathrow are on sale today.
In Quotes
Robin Hayes, JetBlue CEO said
“The pandemic has opened doors to London’s two busiest airports, and we look forward to bringing customers low fares and great service at both Heathrow and Gatwick,”
“LHR, the single largest international air travel market from the US, has long suffered from outrageously high fares for far too long, especially in premium cabins. We’re ready to change that with a price point and experience that will impress even the most discerning transatlantic flyers. We’ve always said that JetBlue would serve multiple London airports, and we’re pleased to have secured a path at Heathrow and for long-term growth at Gatwick, which offers speed, low costs, and convenient accessibility into Central London.”
On Heathrow he added
“Our low fares will disrupt the pricing of the major carriers and massive joint ventures; JetBlue’s presence in this market is going to be immediately noticeable to customers,”
“When we launched Mint in 2014, we cut in half the cost of premium travel between New York and California, and now we’re ready to shake up the transatlantic market the same way, with Mint fares that will half the cost of a full-fare walkup business class seat on the legacy carriers. Heathrow is one of the busiest airports in the world, and our initial schedule is made possible due to temporary slot availability from the past year. We continue to work with the slot coordinators and the U.S. and U.K. governments to identify long-term pathways to continue serving Heathrow, as we believe the public benefit from true competition into this market will be extremely meaningful.”
John Holland-Kaye, chief executive officer, Heathrow Airport. added
“JetBlue’s touchdown at Heathrow as its first U.K. base is a ringing endorsement of the value we deliver for our passengers and the country,”
“JetBlue is a fantastic airline, renowned for delivering top-quality service at competitive prices. That value for money mantra is also at the heart of what we do at Heathrow, and we’re delighted that we’ll be seeing their characteristic blue tailfins at the airport later this year. In the meantime, Ministers should help more people travel safely and boost the economy by moving more low-risk destinations – including the U.S. – to the green list as vaccination rates increase and infections decrease.”
Taking about Gatwick, Hayes added
“We have an incredible opportunity to secure long term slots in London’s second-largest airport, and we look forward to building our presence there over the long-term,”
“Gatwick will perfectly complete our London service, giving customers options as they plan their travel. Gatwick is an attractive choice with its low costs, speed and convenience to Central London.”
Stewart Wingate, chief executive officer, Gatwick Airport said
“Being able to offer our customers the low cost, high value experience from JetBlue, with daily flights to New York starting in just a few months, is a welcome addition to the choice of airlines and destinations which Gatwick currently has,”
“Equally we look forward to welcoming travelers from the U.S. who are looking for easy, quick access to London, the South of England and beyond. We believe this is a start of an important long-term partnership for us and we look forward adding JetBlue flights to and from Boston next year.”
I’m excited…
It’s been a long time since we’ve had a disruptive entry into the London – New York Market (the last major one was Norwegian).
This – is a different attack, not just competing on price, but on service too.
And that’s exciting to see.
In the longer term, it will be interesting to see how much JetBlue tracks their prices against United Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Airline, Virgin Atlantic and British Airways between London and New York.
Who knows – it might spark a change in the passenger experience onboard for the better…
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