JetBlue still serving ABQ, just not direct to NYC
Flights to Denver, Boston are operating, for now
JetBlue is apparently not done with Albuquerque yet.
An Albuquerque International Sunport spokeswoman said Tuesday that the airline is still flying to and from the airport, contradicting earlier statements about the airline having halted its Albuquerque service last week.
Spokeswoman Stephanie Kitts said the airline is still planning to suspend all Albuquerque service but is awaiting direction from the U.S. Department of Transportation.
“We don’t know when it’s going to be exactly, but we’re staying in close contact with them,” Kitts told the Journal on Tuesday. “We’ll see what happens in the next week or so.”
JetBlue began nonstop daily service between Albuquerque and New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport in 2013. With demand waning, it had reduced service to three days a week earlier this spring and then stopped after May 5, Kitts said. But she said JetBlue began a three-times-a-week flight from Albuquerque to Denver and then to Boston on May 12.
Airlines benefiting from federal coronavirus relief funds are required to maintain a minimal level of service around the country.
JetBlue, however, has asked the DOT for an exemption allowing it to suspend its Albuquerque service.
Kitts said JetBlue was granted approval last week, which was why the Sunport said Monday that the airline had halted its Albuquerque operations.
But airport officials called JetBlue on Tuesday after seeing the airline employees at the ticket counter and learned that JetBlue was awaiting clarification from the DOT before stopping service, Kitts said.
Albuquerque resident Dominic Romero said it would be a pity if JetBlue left Albuquerque altogether. The database manager travels regularly for work and said that before the pandemic, he flew to New York every six weeks.
“When they first started flying to Albuquerque ... I was shocked at how full those flights were,” Romero said. “It wasn’t just at the Balloon … was on a regular basis.”
It was a convenient flight for work travelers, who would leave Albuquerque around 11:45 p.m. and get into JFK airport around 5 a.m.
“If you have an 8 a.m. meeting, you typically have enough time to get into Manhattan,” said Romero, who has also taken the flight to visit family, including grandchildren, in the New York area. “It’s amazing.”
Sunport officials have said that even if JetBlue halts service now, they expect it to return when customer demand rebounds.