JetBlue to start offering flights to London

JetBlue Airways rallied after saying it would join the hyper-competitive market for business travelers flying between the U.S. and Europe, using Airbus jets with an expanded version of its premium cabin.

Starting in 2021, JetBlue will make multiple daily flights from its hubs at New York’s John F. Kennedy and Boston Logan to an unspecified airport in London, the carrier told employees in New York. The annoucement earlier this week, capped months of vows from Chief Executive Officer Robin Hayes that JetBlue could bring new travelers to the market by undercutting “obscene” business-class fares and offering its posh Mint service.

The trans-Atlantic jump is a gamble for JetBlue, which carved out a domestic business starting in 2000 by offering plush leather seats and innovative seat-back video screens at discount fares. The carrier will immediately face competitive threats from entrenched global airline alliances and from struggling low-cost operators, while also needing to secure space at crowded airports.

“The Atlantic is not just any international market,” said Samuel Engel, head of the aviation group at consultant ICF. “The trans-Atlantic is a graveyard for airlines. JetBlue is better positioned to succeed than almost any other airline that has grown into it.”

The shares jumped midweek on the announcement, with a two-day gain of 6.1%, on pace for the most since January 2018. Shares closed down slightly on Friday at $17.04.

JetBlue has been deliberating making trans-Atlantic flights since at least 2016, when it ordered A321 single-aisle planes with the right to convert some of the aircraft to a version with extra fuel tanks for longer routes.

For London service, it will switch 13 existing orders to the A321LR, which can fly 4,000 nautical miles — sufficient to hop from the U.S. Northeast to Western Europe — and can seat 206 passengers. That’s similar to a Boeing 757-200.

“London is the largest metro area JetBlue doesn’t yet serve from both Boston and New York, and we could not be more thrilled to be changing that in the years ahead,” said Joanna Geraghty, the carrier’s president and chief operating officer. “The fares being charged today by airlines on these routes, specifically on the premium end, are enough to make you blush.”

The airline might fly to Paris and Amsterdam down the line, Hayes said Thursday.

JetBlue, which has 85 A321s on order, retains the right to shift more to the long-range option and said the switch won’t affect its external financial commitments or capital-spending plans.

The carrier has created an internal team to begin securing U.S. regulatory approval for extended flights over water.