American Airlines, JetBlue get DOT approval for alliance
American Airlines and JetBlue got the go-ahead to move forward with their Northeast based alliance.
Despite objections from rivals Southwest Airlines and Spirit Airlines, the carriers got the green light from the U.S. Department of Transportation, which has completed its review.
As part of the partnership, American will start nonstop services from New York JFK to Tel Aviv and Athens and resume seasonal services to Rio de Janeiro.
JetBlue will boost services out of New York to streamline connections with American’s international flights.
It is also adding flights at New York LaGuardia and Newark.
"With this alliance, American and JetBlue will operate the biggest network for our customers in the Northeast, which will allow American to grow our mainline operations as we recover from the pandemic," said AA’s Chief Revenue Officer, Vasu Raja.
This quarter the airlines will kick off a codeshare partnership, giving their respective customers access to more domestic and international flight options.
This covers 60 routes operated by American and 130 by JetBlue where customers can book through tickets to the final destination.
The airlines said there will also be reciprocal perks for frequent flyer members but they haven’t yet announced what they will be.
In order to get DOT approval, JetBlue and AA agreed to give up slots at New York JFK and Reagan National Airport in Washington DC.
Written by Ray Montgomery, US Editor
TravelMole Editorial Team
Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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