JetBlue Airways planning Atlanta comeback once again

JetBlue Airways, which expanded in Atlanta three years after coming into existence in 2003 and quitting the Atlanta market within months, has finally decided to make a comeback once again. The airline had launched flights to Long Beach Airport, its Southern California hub, and soon expanded in Atlanta with new flights to Oakland, setting off an intense competition with Delta Air Lines and AirTran Airways, which also had their hubs here. This also led to steep increase in airfares resulting in huge losses forcing the JetBlue to leave Atlanta market abruptly.

Media reports said that JetBlue Airways has once again finally made up its mind to return to Atlanta and take on the dominant carrier Delta Air Lines in its biggest hub and hometown. This despite the fact that JetBlue Airways presently cannot match Delta Air Lines in size or revenue. According to the reports, JetBlue Airways has a few weeks ago written to officials at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport expressing its desire to renew its flights services effective from September 2017. The airline had applied for two “preferential gates” so that it is able to conduct 16 daily flights services to/from Atlanta.

With its decision to resume flights to/from Atlanta JetBlue Airways has sought to give an unusually bod message for expansion. The airline had in recent years launched flights to new cities in the U.S. with half a dozen or even less daily flights. Atlanta has now grown into a much bigger market than many cities where JetBlue has lately been growing.

However, the reports said that JetBlue Airways is still not ready to reveal its plans where it will begin operations. But one thing is sure that it is not going to serve U.S. West Coast again where it had earlier suffered huge losses after which it had stopped flying. Travel experts said that the airline is highly likely to launch flights to four focus cities in U.S. East Coast, which include Orlando, New York, Fort Lauderdale and Boston. These markets are being considered the best for JetBlue Airways at the moment as it is hoped that it would be able to successfully compete with Delta Air Lines.