Dive Brief:

• The Department of Transportation has assessed JetBlue Airways with a $2 million penalty for chronic delays on four of its East Coast routes. The action was the first time U.S. transport regulators have fined an airline for chronic delays, according to the DOT.
• Regulators acted on Friday over at least 145 JetBlue flights — most involving South Florida — during a 17-month period from mid-2022 to late 2023. The DOT defines a chronically delayed flight as one flown at least 10 times monthly that arrives late by at least 30 minutes more than half the time it operates in that month.
• JetBlue said it takes operational reliability seriously and that it has invested millions of dollars to fix its on-time performance. The carrier has struggled with delays for many years, and placed ninth among the 10-largest U.S. airlines for on-time arrivals in the DOT’s year-to-date rankings through September 2024, with 71% of its flights on time.

Dive Insight:

The action against JetBlue came in the final weeks of the Biden administration, which has taken a muscular regulatory posture against airlines in terms of enforcement actions and drawn sustained fire from executives across the industry.

The DOT cited chronic delays from June 2022 through November 2023 on JetBlue’s flights from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to three destinations, Orlando; New York’s JFK Airport; and Bradley International Airport near Hartford, Connecticut. A flight from New York to Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, was also chronically delayed.

Under a consent decree with the department, JetBlue will pay only half the $2 million fine, with the rest credited back to the company for past and future remuneration to passengers affected by flight delays.

JetBlue did not assume liability as part of the agreement, which avoids litigation on the matter. The department has ended its prior practice of sending airlines warning letters about chronically delayed flights, ahead of enforcement action, according to the consent decree.

JetBlue said in an emailed statement Monday that it believes that “accountability for reliable air travel equally lies with the U.S. government,” with the Federal Aviation Administration operating the air traffic control system.

“The U.S. should have the safest, most efficient, and advanced air traffic control system in the world, and we urge the incoming administration to prioritize modernizing outdated ATC technology and addressing chronic air traffic controller staffing shortages to reduce ATC delays that affect millions of air travelers each year,” the company said.

JetBlue operates focus cities in Boston, New York and Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The New York and Florida regions have had some of the most severe air traffic controller staffing shortages across the U.S. since the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused the FAA to halt controller training and compounded hiring shortfalls.

Under Chief Executive Joanna Geraghty, who assumed the role in February, New York-based JetBlue has sought to simplify its network, improve its on-time performance and return to profitability. In its statement, the airline said it has spent “tens of millions of dollars to reduce flight delays” over the past year, and has reaped operational improvements from the investments.

“Illegal chronic flight delays make flying unreliable for travelers,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Friday in a statement. “Today's action puts the airline industry on notice that we expect their flight schedules to reflect reality.”