In August 2021, JetBlue launched transatlantic flights using Airbus A321LRs. Up until now, the airline has only operated to London (Gatwick and Heathrow). In November 2022, JetBlue announced it would launch service to Paris. The airline has now revealed the schedule for its first service to Paris, and has put tickets on sale.
In this post:
JetBlue adding Boston and New York to Paris flights
JetBlue intends to add service to Paris from both Boston and New York as of 2023. The first of those routes is now on sale. As of June 29, 2023, JetBlue will be launching a new daily nonstop flight between New York (JFK) and Paris (CDG). The flight will operate with the following schedule:
B61407 New York to Paris departing 5:09PM arriving 6:55AM (+1 day)
B61408 Paris to New York departing 8:55AM arriving 11:51AM
The 3,635-mile flight will be operated by an Airbus A321LR, and is blocked at 7hr46min eastbound and 8hr56min westbound. Tickets are now on sale, with very attractive pricing:
- For those originating in New York, fares start at $479 roundtrip in economy and $1,899 roundtrip in business class
- For those originating in Paris, fares start at €399 roundtrip in economy and €1,299 roundtrip in business class
The details of the Boston to Paris route haven’t yet been announced, as that’s only expected to launch later this year (and personally I wouldn’t be surprised to see that service slip into 2024).
Here’s how JetBlue CEO Robin Hayes describes this expansion:
“JetBlue is offering something completely unique to what you get from the big global legacy airlines on these routes – where a single high-fare joint venture operates nearly three-quarters of the flying. The response to our London service is proof that combining great service with low fares works. We can’t wait to bring our reimagined Mint and core offerings to Continental Europe’s most visited city.”
Basics of JetBlue’s Airbus A321LRs
For context, JetBlue’s European growth is made possible by its Airbus A321LR fleet. This is the current longest range version of the popular Airbus A321 (“LR” stands for “long range”), until the A321XLR starts flying. The airline has a total of 14 of these on order, and currently has seven in its fleet.
These planes are specially configured for these transatlantic missions. JetBlue’s A321LRs have a total of 138 seats. This includes 24 Mint seats, spread across 12 rows in a 1-1 configuration.
22 of those seats are Mint Suites, which are the standard business class seats. These are fully flat, have direct aisle access, and each have a privacy door.
Two of those seats are Mint Studios, which are the seats in the first row, and they feature significantly more room. They also have a buddy seat feature, so that you can have someone else join you during the flight.
JetBlue then has 114 economy class seats, 24 of which are Even More Space (extra legroom) seats.
JetBlue has an exceptional soft product in all cabins. There’s also complimentary Wi-Fi for all passengers, plus personal televisions, including on demand and live TV programming.
Read my review of JetBlue’s Mint Suite and my review of JetBlue’s Mint Studio.
My take on JetBlue’s expansion to Paris
I love flying with JetBlue, and I appreciate JetBlue’s impact on the competitive landscape. While ultra low cost carriers are focused on price, and the legacy carriers are focused on being all things to all people, JetBlue has largely been focused on offering a quality product. The airline offers complimentary Wi-Fi, has seatback TV throughout its fleet, and has more legroom than other US airlines.
Interestingly JetBlue’s greatest competitive impact has probably been with bringing down business class fares in premium domestic markets, as JetBlue’s Mint revolutionized that in terms of price and quality.
Now, JetBlue isn’t exactly the most profitable airline, and the airline has also struggled with schedule reliability. Nonetheless, it’s fantastic to see JetBlue add more transatlantic service:
- This will be some major competition for La Compagnie, the all-business class airline flying between Newark and Paris
- Air France and Delta otherwise dominate the New York to Paris market, so it’s nice that JetBlue can provide some more competition to that strong joint venture
- That being said, with limited frequencies, lack of connections, and no lounges, JetBlue does face an uphill battle with attracting business traffic and corporate contracts
Bottom line
JetBlue has announced that it will start flying to Paris as of June 2023. The airline will initially fly daily from New York, and will add service from Boston at a later date. Tickets are now on sale, and introductory fares are quite attractive.
This new service shouldn’t really come as a surprise to anyone, as we knew that JetBlue was planning on making Paris its next transatlantic destination. I’m excited to see JetBlue expand into this market.
What do you make of JetBlue’s expansion to Paris?
It's great to see JetBlue add Paris to its network, though it was expected, but the schedule is really disappointing: a 5pm departure from JFK and return from CDG at 8:55am, is not exactly the schedule premium travelers are looking for. Who wants to land in Paris at 6:55am (12:55 am ET) and wait until check-in is available at their hotel hours later (JetBlue doesn't offer arrival or departure lounges either). As much as I...
It's great to see JetBlue add Paris to its network, though it was expected, but the schedule is really disappointing: a 5pm departure from JFK and return from CDG at 8:55am, is not exactly the schedule premium travelers are looking for. Who wants to land in Paris at 6:55am (12:55 am ET) and wait until check-in is available at their hotel hours later (JetBlue doesn't offer arrival or departure lounges either). As much as I like Mint, this is not for me. AF must breathing a sigh of relief... If they want to operate a different schedule, they should offer a daytime flight from JFK, there would be a demand for it, with no competition as of now.
Wake me up when they add a daytime flight from New York to Paris.
they should fly this out of LAX, would be great for competition and for customers
I wonder if they'll add service to Paris Orly
Good evening,
As for JetBlue happy to hear about CDG. To avoid such stiff competition and use the A321LR they could explore for summer only maybe such airports as Nice, Nantes or Bordeaux/Toulouse that would cover the Atlantic coast, the French South West and the Riviera. Personnaly now live in Geneva and would not be against seeing JetBlue here. They could also aim for Lisbon or Madrid.
The departure from NYC is way too early. The departure from CDG is also way too early.
Disagree. For me, it makes well-chosen coach seat palatable with 1 am arrival for my east coast body clock. YMMV but at least a few of us prefer this.
Its that true $479 roundtrip in economy?
Thats super low.
Having never flown an A321LR on a TATL flight, I have to wonder about cabin climate comfort and turbulence. I noticed when I started flying 787s after a decade in A330s, a huge positive difference in how I felt physically after a flight. Turbulence seemed also to be less noticeable on the newer 787s. Not sure I’d opt for a narrow body long haul before the reviews come in.
Not a single day of availability in September for CDG-JFK roundtrip. Not for economy or business.
I don't see any availability on any random days into December. I wonder whether they really aren't selling seats yet.
It's great to see my favorite US airline expanding their long-haul network! Hopefully I'll get to try this route soon.
Jetblue should seriously consider a NYC- Madrid flight, although it’s not the most premium heavy route there’s quite a bit of premium flying and IB could offer some good connections, given the B6-AA alliance. And the FFs on that route would certainly welcome it.
Sounds good but a 8:55am departure out of CDG? I generally prefer at least a late morning or afternoon departure out ot flights leaving European cities especially while having hotel status for which can have one last leisurely included breakfast at luxury hotels such as PH Vendome, Waldorf Amsterdam, etc
JetBlue Mint $1034 one way is not bad. Had no plans for Paris, but with my Amex Hilton and Platinum FHR credits, the Waldorf Versailles has become a target destination.
As I was browsing flights to Europe, I encountered that JetBlue will soon be flying to Paris. I am so excited because I planned to go to Paris this coming year.
I also travelled to London in November and I was telling one of the passengers that JetBlue got my approval. My travel went smoothly. In fact, I wrote a comment that JetBlue should expand in Europe.
Thank you JetBlue!
Wonderful to hear Jet Blue is finally flying to Paris from New York. Its about time!
7 & 7.5 hrs. on a Narrow body. Thank you NO.
I share the same thoughts
JBLU simply won't compete for corporate traffic. AF OR DL can match all of the capacity JBLU can offer from NYC AND BOS to CDG with just one AF or DL flight.
JBLU TRIES to appeal to the premium coach or small business market but they don't compete for and won't succeed at corporate traffic.
If the purpose of announcing the destination but not publishing a schedule is supposedly dictated by being able to say...
JBLU simply won't compete for corporate traffic. AF OR DL can match all of the capacity JBLU can offer from NYC AND BOS to CDG with just one AF or DL flight.
JBLU TRIES to appeal to the premium coach or small business market but they don't compete for and won't succeed at corporate traffic.
If the purpose of announcing the destination but not publishing a schedule is supposedly dictated by being able to say you fly someplace, not knowing when the flight will operate - if it does - won't help to sell the service.
Ahh Jetblue's lackluster strategy yet again!! Why make this announcement if they don't launch flight sales with it.
Okay, Boston flights start later, but they should announce JFK starting date
Delta is that you? LOL
Obviously because they need to know that the planes will be delivered first before they can fly it. There is plenty of time before summer 2023 starts.
She isn't wrong. JetBlue has no strategy and no clue what kind of airline they want to be.
Yes, JetBlue is completely mismanaged. Jetblue is probably most comparable to Alaska (yes I know they have major differences). Alaska is reliable, and one of the best run airlines and just so happens to be among, if not the most profitable airlines. Jetblue- has no reliability, among the least profitable because of its poor management.
From a legacy to a ULCC you don't announce a route unless you can put it on sale. This...
Yes, JetBlue is completely mismanaged. Jetblue is probably most comparable to Alaska (yes I know they have major differences). Alaska is reliable, and one of the best run airlines and just so happens to be among, if not the most profitable airlines. Jetblue- has no reliability, among the least profitable because of its poor management.
From a legacy to a ULCC you don't announce a route unless you can put it on sale. This is all jetblues fault, nothing to do with any other airlines
The purpose for the route announcement is more focused on commercial contract negotiations which happen this time of year. They’re clearly trying to be include the route in the offering they present to enterprise customers
But without published schedule they won't be taken seriously if they are trying to secure corporate contracts. JetBlue has had little to no impact on the JFK-LON and BOS-LON markets, they will have even less of an impact on JFK-CDG and BOS-CDG routes.
AS and B6 are hardly comparable. AS has a very average product in a part of the country where it has very little competition. Once they branched out into California with the VX purchase you saw route after route dropped as AS just could not compete. They are profitable not because they are well managed but because they have kept themselves boxed into SEA where other carriers can't grow because of limited gate capacity. Good...
AS and B6 are hardly comparable. AS has a very average product in a part of the country where it has very little competition. Once they branched out into California with the VX purchase you saw route after route dropped as AS just could not compete. They are profitable not because they are well managed but because they have kept themselves boxed into SEA where other carriers can't grow because of limited gate capacity. Good strategy in the short term but what are they going to do when they need to grow and venture outside of SEA?
B6 competes on every single route it operates despite facing fierce competition from the day it started. It also has very few flights within the West Coast and as anybody can tell you, the weather on the West Coast is hardly comparable to that of the East Coast which faces many ATC problems and various weather conditions throughout the year. An inch or two of snow in SEA and AS has a meltdown.
Business fares from BOS to CDG are high because DL/AF have a monopoly on the route. JetBlue is smart to go after business markets where a better product at a lower pricing point would be welcome.
Once the merger with NK goes through and many more new planes are delivered, B6 will have an extensive network within North America and have the capacity to expand even more into to Europe and Latin America.
Meanwhile, AS will be stuck in SEA with its uninspired product and very limited network.
@Bill,
Save for the differences in coastal weather types, almost none of what you wrote is accurate.
You act as though AS isn't the 1st or 2nd largest operator in every west coast market save LAX... yet claim they don't know how to compete?
Sure, an SFO hub didn't work out the way they may have hoped, so they shifted most of that capacity back to SEA; were another Legacy carrier had grown from...
@Bill,
Save for the differences in coastal weather types, almost none of what you wrote is accurate.
You act as though AS isn't the 1st or 2nd largest operator in every west coast market save LAX... yet claim they don't know how to compete?
Sure, an SFO hub didn't work out the way they may have hoped, so they shifted most of that capacity back to SEA; were another Legacy carrier had grown from less than 30 to more than 160 flights per day, in the span of only five years-- sorta torpedoing your depiction of an insular Seattle, where AS is sheltered from competition.
umm no. Alaska is fine for trips up/down the west coast where your trips tend to be less than 2 hours. But I would not want to fly ca to nyc on alaska 1st vs Jetblue mint. Thats comparing apples & oranges. jetblue has a significantly better product than alaska for not that much more $$. I do that route half a dozen times/year and its never alaska and almost always jetblue follow by delta...
umm no. Alaska is fine for trips up/down the west coast where your trips tend to be less than 2 hours. But I would not want to fly ca to nyc on alaska 1st vs Jetblue mint. Thats comparing apples & oranges. jetblue has a significantly better product than alaska for not that much more $$. I do that route half a dozen times/year and its never alaska and almost always jetblue follow by delta then ual. Alaska and AA are dead to me on that route. sjc to la/san/sea that would almost always be alaska but only because southwest have imploded during the pandemic. For those short routes I don't need anything luxe.