While JetBlue Airways was initially established out of New York’s JFK with the goal of expanding connectivity on the East Coast, the airline has over the last few months significantly reduced its presence out of airports like Newark and LaGuardia.
Along with cuts of its seasonal routes between EWR and Los Angeles and Las Vegas announced earlier this summer, JetBlue closed its flight attendant base at the New Jersey airport.
While still flying to both airports, the airline also significantly scaled down its technical operations at LaGuardia as part of a plan to relocate more resources to a booming South Florida market.
JetBlue runs final flight out of Manchester-Boston Regional Airport
JetBlue followed these changes confirmed back in June with the final flight run from Manchester-Boston Regional Airport (MHT) on July 8. The smaller airport 50 miles outside of Boston is frequently chosen by low-cost airlines due to the lower airport taxes and the wider availability of gate slots.
It is also the largest airport serving nearby New Hampshire and several of the region’s ski resorts. The airline had earlier justified its exit from this market, which it entered only 17 months ago in January 2025, as strategic “decision to reassign assets” and cut underperforming routes that did not bring in the expected traffic.
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As a result of the exit, those living closer to MHT in New Hampshire or who prefer to fly out of a regional airport rather than navigate the drive to Boston Logan (BOS) are left with only Southwest Airlines and Breeze Airways as low-cost options.
“It is unfortunate that they find themselves in a financial position which did not allow time for the MHT market to mature, but we understand their immediate need to increase market share in a focus city,” Tom Malafronte, the customers and airport director at MHT, said of JetBlue’s exit.
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What is happening with JetBlue and its regional flights in 2026
In January 2026, low-cost competitor Avelo Airlines also left the regional airport due to low traffic numbers. The airline had previously run permanent flights there from North Carolina’s Raleigh-Durham, Wilmington, and Concord-Padgett airports as well as South Carolina’s Myrtle Beach.
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On JetBlue’s end, the decision to pull out of Manchester-Boston also came to down to the need to reallocate planes to markets where they will serve the largest numbers of customers.
Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL) and Orlando International (MCO) have both been part of the airline’s expansion plans amid an increase in seat sales over the last year.
The collapse of Spirit Airlines at the start of May also freed up significant gate slots at FLL that JetBlue has been eager to jump upon. The airline also poached some of the former Spirit employees left unemployed by the collapse to work out of Fort Lauderdale.
“We’re now at 130 flights,” JetBlue CEO Joanna Geraghty said of the airline’s further plans. “We’re going to be growing to about 150 by the end, so we are hiring across most of our workgroups and hiring Spirit crew members.”
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