JetBlue has announced its first daytime eastbound Transatlantic flight. From March 25th, 2023, the US low-cost carrier will fly from New York JFK to London Heathrow during the day. Flights will be operated by JetBlue’s Airbus A321LR aircraft, featuring the airline’s award-winning Mint business class product.
The new flight has been made possible through the acquisition of an additional slot pair at London Heathrow. However, JetBlue’s total Transatlantic services will remain at five daily, as the airline does not currently have sufficient Airbus A321LRs to operate extra flights.
In order to accommodate the second daily London Heathrow service, flights between New York JFK and London Gatwick will reduce from two per day to one daily flight. JetBlue’s daily services from Boston to both London Heathrow and London Gatwick will remain unchanged.
The flight schedule
The new daily flight will operate as per the following schedule:
- Flight B61107 will depart New York JFK at 08:30, arriving at London Heathrow at 20:45
- Flight B62220 will depart London Heathrow at 08:25, arriving in New York JFK at 11:40
The schedule shows that the aircraft will spend the night at London Heathrow before departing back across the Atlantic the following morning. It could be argued that spending almost 12 hours on the ground is not the most efficient way to deploy an aircraft, but with slots at London Heathrow so hard to come by, JetBlue has little choice but to make it work.
Eastbound transatlantic flying
The vast majority of eastbound Transatlantic flights depart in the afternoon/evening and arrive in Europe the following day. The early morning departure and evening arrival of daytime flying limits the connection possibilities on both ends, but the O&D market between megacities such as New York and London is so large that even without connecting passengers, filling an aircraft is not a problem.
London Heathrow is currently the only European airport to welcome daytime eastbound Transatlantic flights. This summer, services will be offered by the following airlines:
- British Airways – from New York JFK, Newark, and Boston
- Virgin Atlantic – from New York JFK
- American Airlines – from New York JFK and Chicago O’Hare
- United Airlines – from Washington Dulles
Discover more about JetBlue’s impressive expansion over the past two decades with this in-depth analysis from the Simple Flying team.
Although many would argue that daytime flying is an inefficient use of time, particularly for business travelers, some passengers prefer this option as it avoids having to try to sleep onboard. Flights from the US East Coast to London are relatively short at around six hours, meaning that on overnight flights, after take-off and the meal service, sleep is often limited to three or four hours before an early morning arrival and a full day at the destination.
Have you flown on one of JetBlue’s flights across the Atlantic? What did you think of the service? Are you planning to take the new daytime eastbound flight? Share your thoughts and experiences by commenting below.