Summary
- JetBlue will stop E-190 flights to JFK after April 2025, aligning with plans to phase out the fleet.
- The A220s will replace the aging E-190s, offering fuel efficiency and cost savings for JetBlue.
- By transitioning to the A220s, JetBlue expects to save up to $100 million in maintenance costs.
As part of its plans to phase out its Embraer E190 fleet, JetBlue will remove them from its New York JFK schedule from next year. JetBlue operates a mixed fleet of Airbus and Embraer airplanes, of which its A220s are the youngest. As more of the type join the airline’s fleet, JetBlue will replace its Embraer fleet sometime next year.
E-190s to stop flying to JFK next year
JetBlue will stop deploying its Embraer E190 aircraft to and from New York JFK airport after April 2025. The development was first noticed by Ishrion Aviation and the timing of these changes aligns with the airline’s larger plans of phasing out its Embraer fleet.
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Indeed, data from aviation analytics firm Cirium shows that JetBlue has E190 flights from its New York JFK base all through this year and the first four months of 2025. However, it will continue to operate the aircraft type from Boston Logan International Airport even after that.
Busy New York schedule
JetBlue’s busy hub at New York JFK is well-connected with several of the airline’s destinations. The airline has almost 8,000 return flights scheduled from JFK this month, amounting to more than a million seats, per Cirium.
Some of the destinations it connects JFK with the E-190 this month include Nantucket in Massachusetts, Atlanta in Georgia, Nashville in Tennessee, Buffalo in New York, and Charlotte in North Carolina, among others.
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Of course, its larger JFK schedule includes much more using its Airbus A320 family and A220 aircraft to destinations as far as London Heathrow and Vancouver in Canada.
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More Cuts: JetBlue Drops 2 Cross-Country Routes From Los Angeles International Airport
The changes represent a reduction in capacity between Southern California and the Big Apple.
On their way out
The days of the Embraer E-190 planes in JetBlue’s fleet are numbered. While it continues to rely heavily on the A320 family of jets for a significant chunk of its network, the new A220s in its fleet are gradually replacing the aging E-190s. While not as old as some of its A320ceos, the average age of JetBlue’s Embraer E-190 fleet is 15.2 years, per ch-aviation.
Photo: Markus Mainka | Shutterstock
JetBlue took delivery of its first A220 in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic and, in 2022, increased its total order for the type to 100 by including an additional 30 planes. Currently, it has 31 A220s in its fleet, of which 25 are in active service, per ch-aviation.
There’s a reason why JetBlue is investing in the A220s; the jet is becoming increasingly popular with many airlines, including Breeze Airways, Air Canada, and Delta Air Lines. It offers the flexibility of flight ranging from 30 minutes to 7 hours, with 25% less fuel burn and CO2 emissions and 50% less noise footprint compared to previous generation aircraft.
Photo: Markus Mainka | Shutterstock
In fact, JetBlue is expecting to save as much as $100 million by replacing the E-190s with the A220s. JetBlue finance chief Ursula Hurley commented during a recent earnings call,
“In addition to better economics, we have already realized $70 million to-date in maintenance savings, and we now expect to realize $100 million in maintenance cost savings through the end of this year, up from the original $75 million goal we previously forecasted. Once we are through this transition period, we expect a more meaningful tailwind to our costs as we return to operating just two fleet types.”
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