AVIATION
JetBlue Airways to end service to Florida from Syracuse
SYRACUSE — JetBlue Airways will drop its one daily flight from Syracuse to Fort Lauderdale in January.
The company said it was cutting the route because of high fuel costs and it was an “under-performer.”
“With the unprecedented spike in fuel costs, we have to look at every route and pare them down where we can,” said Sebastian White, a JetBlue spokesman.
JetBlue is the only airline offering direct flights between Syracuse’s Hancock International Airport and the southeast Florida vacation spot. Service will end Jan. 5.
The discount carrier started the service in November but it proved to be very seasonal, with seats filled during the winter and empty in the summer and fall.
Kevin Schwab, director of air service development for the Metropolitan Development Association, said the airline told the association it would consider bringing back the Fort Lauderdale service, perhaps on a seasonal basis, at a later date.
“This was a relatively new route that, with time, we feel would be quite successful,” said Schwab.
Jet Blue notified Mayor Matt Driscoll on Wednesday that the flights would be dropped as part of a 4 percent reduction in service companywide, Driscoll said.
JetBlue operates five other daily flights from Syracuse — four to Kennedy Airport in New York City and one to Orlando,
Fla.
Despite the elimination of the Fort Lauderdale and Dallas flights, business at Hancock airport has held steady — and actually has one flight more per week on average than it did a year ago at the same time, said Schwab.
Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority spokeman Douglas Hartmayer said Jet- Blue has not dropped any flights from the Buffalo Niagara International Airport. The airline typically offers 13 to 15 daily flights, depending on seasonal factors and demand.
JetBlue currently has 14 daily flights from Buffalo, with 10 to JFK Airport in New York City, two to Boston and one each to Orlando, Fla., and Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.
