Almost exactly eight months after first mentioning that Canada will be served, JetBlue has now put flights on sale to Vancouver – the carrier's first Canadian destination – from both New York JFK and Boston. Might Fort Lauderdale materialize too?

JetBlue A320
JetBlue will use the A320 between JFK and Vancouver. Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying.

JetBlue puts first Canada flights on sale

From June, JFK and Boston will be connected non-stop to Vancouver, Canada's third-largest city. Because of the pandemic, which meant the border with the US was closed for a long time to all but essential travel, JetBlue planned to launch both routes in summer 2022. And that is what's happening.

The 2,449-mile (3,941km) link from JFK takes off on June 9th and will use the A320. The slightly longer route from Boston, some 2,514-mile (4,045km) away, will begin on June 12th and use the 140-seat A220-300.

It's great to see the A220 deployed on longer routes, joining the likes of San Jose (California) from the Massachusetts airport. The block time on Boston-Vancouver is six hours and 23 minutes. In the following schedule, all times are local.

  • B61975: JFK to Vancouver, 19:04-22:35; seven-weekly
  • B61974: Vancouver to JFK, 23:46-08:00+1 the following day
  • B62149: Boston to Vancouver, 17:40-21:03; six-weekly
  • BA2150: Vancouver to Boston, 22:13-06:28+1 the following day
JetBlue to Vancouver
One-way fares to Vancouver are from just $99 (CAD$127). Going the other way, they're from $200+ (CAD$256+), thanks to higher taxes. Image: GCMap.

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Why Vancouver?

The two routes will revolve around point-to-point (P2P) demand, but there is strong transit potential too. Vancouver to New York JFK had ~160,000 round-trip P2P passengers in 2019, booking data reveals. That increases to 400,000+ if Newark and LaGuardia are added.

A good chunk of JFK's traffic was from Cathay Pacific's Hong Kong-Vancouver-JFK service, although Delta operated JFK-Vancouver until August 2019. Cathay had fifth-freedom traffic rights, but despite operating for 23 years, it was a loss-making service, the Hong Kong-based airline told us in 2019. It ended in 2020, meaning the airport-pair remained unserved and a clear opportunity for JetBlue.

Meanwhile, Boston had about 98,000 round-trip passengers. Air Canada's summer-seasonal service Boston-Vancouver service will resume on May 19th. The larger and much more fuel-efficient MAX 8 will replace the A319, which previously operated it. The A319 has been retired.

Air Canada B737 MAX
Air Canada will compete head-to-head with JetBlue from Boston. Photo: Air Canada.

Will JetBlue add Fort Lauderdale too?

JetBlue's third-busiest airport next summer will be Fort Lauderdale. Booking data shows that, in 2019, Vancouver-Fort Lauderdale had nearly 80,000 round-trip passengers, while Miami had approximately 56,000 more. The two South Florida airports are unserved from the Canadian city.

JetBlue Airways Airbus A220-300 N3008J
The A220 will operate from Boston to Vancouver. Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying.

Vancouver to Latin America & the Caribbean

Vancouver to Fort Lauderdale would also enable JetBlue to capture some of Vancouver's strong demand to/from Latin America and the Caribbean. Next summer, JetBlue will serve 22 destinations there, mainly in the Caribbean. If traffic to all 22 is combined, they had just shy of half a million passengers in 2019.

What do you make of Vancouver joining JetBlue's network? Will you use it? Let us know in the comments.