New York to Scotland: JetBlue Inaugurates Edinburgh (+Feature)

JetBlue has made another major step in it’s transatlantic journey today as they inaugurate new flights between New York and Edinburgh.

AviationSource was invited up to the inaugural event, where we acquired some interesting insight.

In this feature, we will take a look at the new route, what B6 have to say on transatlantic travel, as well as what it looks like onboard.

The New Flights Between New York & Edinburgh…

JetBlue began flights today (May 22) between New York JFK and Edinburgh Airport, bolstering their transatlantic presence further.

These flights were announced in October last year, as part of overall additions to the transatlantic network.

B673 departed JFK at 2215 local time last night (May 21) and landed into EDI just after 0830 this morning.

The return flight, B672, departed at 1230 local time.

This service will operate on a seasonal basis up to September 30 this year, so just for the summer schedule only.

Furthermore, it is expected to land back into the Big Apple at 1506 local time this afternoon.

Marty St. George, JetBlue President had this to say on the launch of flights:

“JetBlue has redefined transatlantic travel by introducing low fares and great service in markets dominated by high fare legacy carriers”.

“We look forward to connecting Scotland and the Northeast this Summer with our award-winning Mint and core service that will bring this signature JetBlue experience to Edinburgh”.

Adding to this was Gordon Dewar, the CEO of Edinburgh Airport:

“We are excited to see another new airline and tailfin as JetBlue adds Edinburgh Airport to it’s fast-growing network”.

“Transatlantic travel from Edinburgh has been a real success story and adding more capacity to New York opens up another route for passengers to travel to and from Scotland and the USA, bringing our two countries even closer together”.

“It’s always great to see a new airline make it’s home in Edinburgh and we are really looking forward to welcoming JetBlue’s passengers and our new colleagues to Scotland’s capital”.

There was much excitement oozed at this event today, with JetBlue & EDI pulling out the stops for this.

JetBlue & Transatlantic Travel…

As well as Edinburgh, the airline services the following European destinations from New York & Boston:

• Amsterdam
• Dublin
• London Heathrow
• London Gatwick
• Paris CDG

Already, we can see that with EDI joining the list, the transatlantic network is getting extensive.

AviationSource was able to sit down with Warren Christie after his remarks to discuss the transatlantic model & JetBlue further.

He was pressed by other journalists and us via a short 20-minute roundtable.

On additional markets into the UK specifically, Christie let out a smile and mentioned that there is nothing to announce as of yet. Clearly, there is something in the pipeline.

Christie also said that the first JetBlue A321XLRs are expected to be delivered next year.

On overall growth, he said that the airline is waiting on additional deliveries, and is managing Airbus & P&W delays accordingly.

Finally, he mentioned how he was happy to serve this route and ultimately give travellers a affordable but better service to fly across the pond.

Inside the Airbus A321neoLR…

At the event, JetBlue invited members of the press to take a look inside the Airbus A321neoLR that will be operating these New York-Edinburgh flights.

This tour was headed up by Maja Gedosev, the General Manager for Europe at the airline.

During the tour, we got to take a look at the Mint suite, which the airline is priding itself on in the transatlantic market.

The aircraft sits 160 passengers onboard via a two-class configuration consisting of:

• 16 redesigned Mint Suite seats.
• 144 standard economy seats.

Restricted by size, it is definitely intriguing how JetBlue makes this work on transatlantic flights. But it works, if you do it right.

Looking Ahead…

Today represents big news for JetBlue, as they continue to expand their transatlantic presence strongly from New York.

All eyes will be on how fruitful the success will be on this route, especially against other carriers operating this route.

Furthermore, it will be interesting to see what other markets in the UK the airline intends to serve from the Big Apple & Boston.

But for now, all eyes will be over the Summer to see how well this route performs.

If this proves to be successful, then we could very well see additional coverage into the UK on an already competitive transatlantic market.