I don’t usually cover individual domestic route changes, but I’d consider this one to be pretty significant and noteworthy, as JetBlue continues its transition to being a leisure focused airline.
In this post:
JetBlue cuts 6x daily BOS to LGA flights
@IshrionA reports how as of April 30, 2025, JetBlue will be discontinuing service on the short 185-mile route between Boston Logan (BOS) and New York LaGuardia (LGA). The airline had planned to operate the route 6x daily using Embraer E190s.
When JetBlue exits this market, Delta will have an even more dominant position. Delta operates the route up to 15x daily, as the airline runs a shuttle service, with hourly flights from 6AM until 8PM. Meanwhile American also operates the route up to 4x daily.
Of course it’s worth mentioning that for those traveling exclusively between Boston and New York, the train is a popular option, with the Acela journey taking around 3.5 hours. While flights are typically blocked at just under 90 minutes, many people still find the train to be more efficient, since you can stay productive the whole time, and are closer to the city centers.
JetBlue will continue to operate between Boston Logan (BOS) and New York Kennedy (JFK), with up to 4x daily flights. Boston Logan, New York LaGuardia, and New York Kennedy, are three of JetBlue’s biggest hubs.
This is a significant but logical route cut
JetBlue is trying to return to profitability, as the airline has been struggling in recent years. The new management team is doing a good job making changes, and is also giving the airline more of a focus. Going back several years, JetBlue didn’t really know what it wanted to be, in terms of its network. Was it going after business travelers or leisure travelers? Was it primarily an East Coast airline, or also trying to grow on the West Coast?
Now the airline is focused on being an East Coast leisure airline, and we’re increasingly seeing a route network that reflects that:
- The Boston to New York LaGuardia route is primarily about point-to-point traffic, and targets business travelers
- While 6x daily flights is significant, it’s hard to compete with Delta’s 15x daily flights, so the airline was at a disadvantage
- JetBlue will continue to fly between Boston and New York Kennedy, offering access to more connections
Competitively, what’s noteworthy here is that pre-pandemic, American also operated an hourly shuttle service in this market, much like Delta. American cut that route in early 2022, and handed the route to JetBlue, as part of the Northeast Alliance that the two airlines briefly had. However, when that alliance ended due to intervention by the Department of Justice, American resumed the route, but with reduced frequencies.
Bottom line
As of April 30, 2025, JetBlue will be discontinuing flights between Boston Logan and New York LaGuardia. The route is currently served up to 6x daily with Embraer E190s. This is a significant but logical route cut, as JetBlue focuses on being a leisure airline.
For those who frequently travel in the market, Delta will have an even more dominant position with its hourly, 15x daily shuttle service. This won’t be great in terms of fares or competition.
What do you make of JetBlue cutting its Boston Logan to New York LaGuardia route?
I suspect operational reliability (which is critical on this route) and aircraft availability weighed heavily into this decision, perhaps more than competition and LGA landing costs.
Brent makes a great point - Terminal B is one of the best airport terminals in the country. It has an Amex, Chase, and soon to be launched Capital One lounge, along with tons of unique food and beverage. JetBlue, American, Frontier, United all should be able to leverage that terminal a lot better than they currently are.
After many delays, Amtrak should have the new generation of Acela start to come in to service this year. With that will be a significant increase in capacity on the BOS - NYP route. Service will become hourly. And even on shorter trips, first class has full meal service. LGA to midtown is not all that convenient. So from a business focused route will have good competition.
It was a weird route after the NEA. B6 has very little traffic in LGA right now, though they added 2x daily Tampa service. They are splitting their gates in the B Terminal with Frontier. I would love to see them use those slots for something else, as LGA Terminal B is pretty much the best way to get in and out of NYC right now. I did fly that shuttle once last year when...
It was a weird route after the NEA. B6 has very little traffic in LGA right now, though they added 2x daily Tampa service. They are splitting their gates in the B Terminal with Frontier. I would love to see them use those slots for something else, as LGA Terminal B is pretty much the best way to get in and out of NYC right now. I did fly that shuttle once last year when train prices were inflated. It was fine, but given that BOS and JFK have a lot of destination overlap, I can't imagine using that flight for a BOS connection when I could just get something direct out of T5.
Another consideration is the number of jets grounded by the P&W engine issue. When part of your fleet is AOG (Aircraft on ground), resources are limited. Once all this is resolved, may want to explore BOS NYC service once we get a handle on the effects of the new administration.
Also, should B6 pick up alliances with the new T5 terminal, interline partners may push for such an arrangement to cover TATL departures from...
Another consideration is the number of jets grounded by the P&W engine issue. When part of your fleet is AOG (Aircraft on ground), resources are limited. Once all this is resolved, may want to explore BOS NYC service once we get a handle on the effects of the new administration.
Also, should B6 pick up alliances with the new T5 terminal, interline partners may push for such an arrangement to cover TATL departures from both locations. Also, a way to cover B6's own Euro departures.
that is why B6 pushed their order book out. Their "growth" will come from aircraft returned to service.
AA and B6 have struggled to get the amount of corporate traffic that DL and UA from NYC.
And the NYC local shuttle market does include EWR where UA has hourly service to BOS.
DL dominates the NYC shuttle market with service from BOS to all 3 NYC airports with most of its frequencies to LGA.
DCA is also part of the shuttle market which UA is ramping up from EWR to...
AA and B6 have struggled to get the amount of corporate traffic that DL and UA from NYC.
And the NYC local shuttle market does include EWR where UA has hourly service to BOS.
DL dominates the NYC shuttle market with service from BOS to all 3 NYC airports with most of its frequencies to LGA.
DCA is also part of the shuttle market which UA is ramping up from EWR to hourly while DL has less than hourly from LGA and JFK.
While the train is a major competitor, there is enough traffic including for connections via the larger LGA, JFK and EWR hubs but not for multiple competitors.
B6 is simply being squeezed out - in the case of BOS and LGA by DL's larger size on both ends and UA even from EWR
Yeah, this makes sense to me. JetBlue is better served simply feeding its BOS and JFK hubs for mainline routes rather than trying to offer the same service that UA/DL/Amtrak already does. There is no real "unserved niche" for NY-DC or NY-BOS that JetBlue can serve at this point.
(Personally, I'll almost always take the train for sure on the NEC- there's little or no time/cost savings by flying).
Frankly, Acela has long been superior in NYP-BOS and given the post-pandemic decline in business travel, while sudden, this does make sense.
Even if you are a business traveller, Acela does have workable Wi-Fi now, while you do get disconnected while in the air
For business travelers yes, that makes sense. For leisure travelers, students, etc. the train has long been significantly more expensive. When you factor in time to the airport and wait time, the trips were about the same, and the flight could definitely save you a bit of time if you cut it close. Prior to Acela being refreshed, I way preferred to get to the airport, have a few drinks in the lounge, and then...
For business travelers yes, that makes sense. For leisure travelers, students, etc. the train has long been significantly more expensive. When you factor in time to the airport and wait time, the trips were about the same, and the flight could definitely save you a bit of time if you cut it close. Prior to Acela being refreshed, I way preferred to get to the airport, have a few drinks in the lounge, and then get to Boston in under 90 minutes (plus Logan is such an easy drive to anywhere in the city), vs. always being delayed on Amtrak.
Is American using all their LGA slots? Or might they look to pick up additional frequencies here?
Not at all surprising to see B6 drop the BOS-LGA route. JetBlue has no meaningful corporate traffic. It generates revenue by flying from the Northeast to the Caribbean and Florida and not much else. The airline is orbiting towards a partnership and an eventual take over by another carrier. It is marginally profitable at the best of times and an operational mess.
Ben, on a related topic:
JetBlue will end their flights between IAH and JFK in June,
and with that there will be no airline flying on that route between 2 major airports (several will continue flying IAH-LGA/EWR).
a question which came to my mind:
are there any more routes between 2 major airports in the US which no airline offers at the moment?
What does B6 do with these slots? Lease them? Additional LGA-FL flying? Add back some of the destinations they had to cut because of the NEA being axed?—DEN, MSY, CHS, etc?
Do you know that for some time in the early days of jet travel, like up to the 1980s, the Delta Shuttle was a true "shuttle" (which is why it was named that), in that you could walk up 30 minutes prior to departure and buy a ticket at the fixed price. And if the plane was full, they would add another departure to handle any extra passengers. Crazy. Economic reality and the silliness of that was soon fixed.
Delta didn't have anything to do with the shuttles until the demise of Pan Am, and that was in the 1990s, not 1980s.
The 1980s were nowhere near "the early days of jet travel," as short and longhaul jet travel had been a thing for decades already. Hell, the Soviets had already started and ended their passenger supersonic jet operations, before the 1980s even began.
Lastly, shuttle service was not "soon fixed," seeing as Delta's...
Delta didn't have anything to do with the shuttles until the demise of Pan Am, and that was in the 1990s, not 1980s.
The 1980s were nowhere near "the early days of jet travel," as short and longhaul jet travel had been a thing for decades already. Hell, the Soviets had already started and ended their passenger supersonic jet operations, before the 1980s even began.
Lastly, shuttle service was not "soon fixed," seeing as Delta's (and the Trump then USAirways Shuttles), continued for decades afterwards. American hopped in for a bit. Delta added a west coast shuttle operation, with similar structure, from 2013-2018.
The walk-up and buy a ticket at the gate or on-board thing aspect stayed around until 9/11 and TSA.
The shuttle routes were highly profitable, despite high operating costs, because it was all about last-minute business travel, especially by people/tasks for whom time was immensely valuable. If there were enough walk-ups to necessitate a second section, the fares made it worth it to have an idle airframe most of the time.
It was a different...
The walk-up and buy a ticket at the gate or on-board thing aspect stayed around until 9/11 and TSA.
The shuttle routes were highly profitable, despite high operating costs, because it was all about last-minute business travel, especially by people/tasks for whom time was immensely valuable. If there were enough walk-ups to necessitate a second section, the fares made it worth it to have an idle airframe most of the time.
It was a different world. Acela, 9/11, email, and videoconferencing brought an end to the glory days.
Delta bought the shuttle from Pan Am, toward the end of Pan Am's existence. The Pan Am Shuttle itself had only existed for a few years. The original Shuttle was Eastern's and it launched in the late 1960s. The early days of jet travel was not in the 1980s either.
In reality the "extra sections", were probably planned to operate with 85%+ certainty, as the carriers had a lot of historical data on the days and times extra capacity was needed. Fares were very high on the shuttles and the train was relatively less convenient than today.
It seems almost obvious that having extra planes sitting around (and crews) would be a waste under even generous circumstances. Of course to what degree, not sure.
Today, wouldn't they just price last minute walkup fares highly, overbook and offer people to bump to the next departure if needed, and still come out ahead versus putting a half filled plane in the air?
JetBlue is also starting a Boston to Islip route, making it much more convenient for Long Island travelers. Makes sense to cut the LGA route instead of having flights out of 3 New York airports
Pretty bad signs for B6 ngl. JetBlue is like 95% point to point traffic and not much on connections.
LGA matters because it's an O&D for BOS travelers, even if B6 has JFK, people going between Boston and NYC want to fly to LGA.
...or take the train to NYP.