JetBlue Airways airplane are visualized at separation entrances at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York on June 15, 2013.
Fred Prouser|Reuters
The Department of Transportation fined JetBlue Airways $2 million for “chronically delayed flights,” the initial fine of its kind, the DOT claimed Friday.
JetBlue ran 4 paths that were postponed a minimum of 145 times from June 2022 via November 2023, the DOT claimed. Those were in between JetBlue’s home center at John F. Kennedy International Airport and Raleigh-Durham International Airport in North Carolina; in between Fort Lauderdale and Orlando, Florida, and JFK, and in between Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and Windsor Locks, Connecticut, according to the DOT.
“Today’s action puts the entire airline industry on notice that we expect their flight schedules to reflect reality,” claimed Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg in a press release.
JetBlue was accountable for greater than 70% of the interruptions on the 4 paths, the DOT claimed. The airline company fell short to readjust the trip times “to avoid illegal unrealistic scheduling,” the division included.
The DOT thinks about a trip persistantly postponed if it is flown at the very least 10 times a month and gets here over half an hour late majority the moment. It claimed it has continuous examinations right into various other airline companies for impractical trip timetables.
JetBlue claimed in a declaration the federal government needs to do even more to enhance staffing of air web traffic controllers and update the system, resembling phone calls from execs at Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and various other significant providers.
“While we’ve reached a settlement to resolve this matter regarding four flights in 2022 and 2023, we believe accountability for reliable air travel equally lies with the U.S. government, which operates our nation’s air traffic control system,” JetBlue claimed in its declaration. “We believe the U.S. should have the safest, most efficient, and advanced air traffic control system in the world, and we urge the incoming administration to prioritize modernizing outdated ATC technology and addressing chronic air traffic controller staffing shortages to reduce ATC delays that affect millions of air travelers each year.”
Based in New York, JetBlue runs in a few of the globe’s most stuffed airspace. From January via September 2024, JetBlue rated 9th out of 10 united state airline companies in on-time arrivals with 71.3% of trips showing up promptly, an enhancement over 64.9% in the year-earlier duration, according to a month-to-month DOT tally
The DOT claimed it would certainly attribute JetBlue $1 numerous the penalty for a good reputation settlement currently paid to guests throughout the examination’s amount of time in addition to for settlement that is payable within a year of the order with coupons to afflicted guests paid at a minimum of $75.
