JetBlue will discontinue service from Baltimore this spring after more than a decade of flying.
“Exiting a market is a difficult decision, and we were privileged to have served Baltimore,” a spokesperson for JetBlue shared with T+L. “Due to underperformance and lack of customer demand, we will exit our BOS-BWI route, therefore closing our Baltimore BlueCity.”
The airline first introduced the service back in 2009, offering up to four daily flights at its peak.
On May 1, 2024, JetBlue will end its only route of Baltimore/Washington International Airport (BWI) to its major Boston hub, which the airline currently flies up to twice daily.
Over the years, JetBlue has reduced frequencies on this route, suggesting weaker demand than the airline had originally anticipated. Major carriers Delta Air Lines and Southwest Airlines also compete on the route, flying up to 3x and 9x daily frequencies between Baltimore and Boston, respectively.
All passengers booked on the Baltimore to Boston route after May 1 will receive a full refund back to their original payment method, the airline confirmed to T+L. The airline’s route cuts come just before its earnings call scheduled at the end of January to discuss the fourth quarter financial results from 2023.
In addition, JetBlue says it made the decision to exit Baltimore “long before we got the court’s decision on our acquisition of Spirit Airlines.”
Just last week, a federal judge struck down the Spirit merger, which would have made the combined airline into the fifth largest carrier in the U.S. JetBlue plans to appeal the court decision.
The airline will continue to offer nonstop services out of the greater Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, with more than 10 daily frequencies between Boston and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA). While JetBlue will leave Baltimore altogether, it plans to add Tulum, Mexico, as its newest destination this June, shifting gears to a leisure-focused route.