Summary
- JetBlue introduced Mint, its business class cabin, in September 2013.
- Since then, the cabin has gained in popularity with travelers, being a much more affordable business class product than the one offered by legacy airlines.
- In August, JetBlue has scheduled 757 weekly departures with Mint-equipped aircraft, including to Europe, the Caribbean, and Canada.
JetBlue officially introduced Mint in September 2013, saying that its business class product would offer the longest lie-flat beds and the only private suites on routes from
New York John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK)
to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and from JFK to San Francisco International Airport (SFO).
The cabin had been rolled out gradually throughout the airline’s fleet and has continued to expand, with the carrier adding more routes to include Mint.
Photo: Brookgardener | Shutterstock
For example, on August 26, JetBlue announced that it would introduce Mint from
Boston Logan International Airport (BOS)
and JFK to Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport (BZN) on the weekends during the peak ski season in Montana.
The most noteworthy expansion of Mint services was when JetBlue launched services across the Atlantic Ocean, entering the transatlantic market that incumbent full-service carriers have dominated.
JetBlue’s
first transatlantic service departed JFK to London Heathrow Airport (LHR) on August 11, 2021, landing at the latter airport at around 10:00 local time on August 12, 2021.
Transatlantic routes
According to ch-aviation data, Mint, which is the airline’s business class product, was present on 55 aircraft, including Airbus A321ceo,
A321neo
, and A321LR, a long-range derivative of the A321neo.
|
JetBlue’s Mint-equipped aircraft |
Airbus A321ceo |
Airbus A321neo |
Airbus A321LR |
Total |
|
Number of aircraft |
35 |
9 |
11 |
55 |
|
Business class seats |
16 |
16 or 24 |
16 or 24 |
➖ |
Some of these aircraft have been operating JetBlue’s routes to Europe, which depart the US from either BOS or JFK.
From BOS, JetBlue has scheduled flights to these European destinations in August, according to data from the aviation analytics company Cirium:
- Amsterdam Schiphol Airport (AMS)
- Paris Charles De Gaulle International Airport (CDG)
- Dublin Airport (DUB)
- London Gatwick Airport (LGW)
- London Heathrow Airport (LHR)
Photo: Great Circle Mapper
Meanwhile, from JFK, JetBlue has scheduled itineraries on the following routes to European cities:
- AMS
- CDG
- DUB
- Edinburgh Airport (EDI)
- LGW
- LHR
Photo: Great Circle Mapper
In total, JetBlue’s weekly schedule to Europe includes 91 departures from the US, resulting in 13,020 total seats, with the airline averaging 143.1 seats per departure.
Only three Europe-bound routes, namely BOS-DUB, BOS-LGW, and JFK-DUB, see JetBlue’s A321neos equipped with 160 seats, which have 16 business class – Mint – seats onboard the single-aisle jets.
JetBlue’s complicated Mint network in the US
Naturally, the airline’s Mint network in the US is much more complicated, with JetBlue scheduling 647 weekly flights with its business class product in August.
On average, there are 159.1 seats per departure due to JetBlue deploying its A231ceos on domestic flights that still come equipped with business class seats. A large part of its Mint-equipped itineraries departs BOS, JFK, or LAX in August.
Looking at the network from BOS, it was evident that all of these destinations are transcontinental, including flights to Cyril E. King Airport (STT), located in the Virgin Islands, which is a US territory.
Photo: Great Circle Mapper
Meanwhile, flights from JFK are focused on the same transcontinental destinations on the west coast of the US, with the only difference being that instead of deploying its Mint-equipped A321s to STT, JetBlue has utilized the aircraft on flights to Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport (SJU), located in Puerto Rico, another US territory.
There are other routes that do not land and/or depart BOS and JFK. For example, another JetBlue hub, which the airline identifies as a Focus city, Fort Lauderdale–Hollywood International Airport (FLL), has flights to SFO and LAX. JetBlue has also scheduled 19 weekly itineraries between Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) and LAX.
Photo: Great Circle Mapper
Mint’s Caribbean network
In addition to transcontinental and transatlantic flights, JetBlue has deployed Mint on routes beyond these two markets, including a large focus on flights to destinations in the Caribbean.
Photo: Great Circle Mapper
In total, its non-US or non-Europe itineraries with Mint amount to 19 flights per week, or 3,021 total seats, which includes business and economy classes. The average seat per departure was 159, meaning that all of these routes are served by Airbus A321ceo.
Out of the eight destinations shown on the map, the only two outliers were Vancouver International Airport (YVR) and Guanacaste Airport (LIR), which are obviously not in the Caribbean. JetBlue has seven weekly itineraries with Mint-equipped aircraft from JFK to YVR.
Overall, JetBlue has scheduled 757 Mint-equipped weekly departures in August. While the airline’s looking-forward schedule includes fewer weekly flights in November (750) and June 2025 (755), these could be subject to changes in the near term.
Photo: JetBlue
At the same time, JetBlue has deferred its A321neo deliveries that Airbus was scheduled to hand over from 2025 through 2029. On July 26, the airline and the manufacturer entered into an agreement that JetBlue would defer 44 A321neo deliveries to 2030 and beyond, meaning that at least between 2026 and 2030, the carrier will introduce zero additional A321neos.
At the same time, it still had 16 A321neo aircraft without Mint cabins, according to the airline’s Q2 US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) filing. Thus, if it wanted to add more premium products to its fleet with additional Mint cabins, it still has the flexibility to do so. Another 28 A321ceo aircraft do not have Mint cabins, its Q2 SEC filing showed.