JetBlue Fined $2 Million Over Chronic Flight Delays

A JetBlue airplane is shown at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City, on March 16, 2017. Seth Wenig/AP Photo

For the first time, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) has fined a passenger airline for “chronic flight delays.”

On Jan. 3, the DOT announced a $2 million penalty against JetBlue Airways Corp.

A news release from the department said the Long Island City, New York City, low-cost carrier operated four “chronically delayed” flights at least 145 times between June 2022 and November 2023.

“Today’s action puts the airline industry on notice that we expect their flight schedules to reflect reality,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in the release.

“The department will enforce the law against airlines with chronic delays or unrealistic scheduling practices in order to protect healthy competition and ensure passengers are treated fairly.”

In a statement shared with The Epoch Times, JetBlue said it works “very hard to operate our flights as scheduled.”

It went on to say it has invested “tens of millions of dollars” to reduce flight delays. It blamed the problem on the lack of air traffic controllers in the Northeastern U.S. and Florida.

“We believe accountability for reliable air travel equally lies with the U.S. government, which operates our nation’s air traffic control system,” the JetBlue statement said.

“We urge the incoming administration to prioritize modernizing outdated [air traffic control] technology and addressing chronic air traffic controller staffing shortages to reduce [air traffic control] delays that affect millions of air travelers each year.”

A Jan. 3 DOT statement said it issued an order requiring JetBlue to cease and desist its chronic flight delays and pay a $2 million penalty. Half of the penalty must be paid in cash directly to the U.S. Treasury.

The other half will go to “compensate JetBlue passengers harmed by either the chronically delayed flights covered by the DOT’s order or any future flight cancellations or delays of three hours or more caused by JetBlue within the next year,” the release said.

The department’s investigation found the chronically delayed flights connected: John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) in New York and Raleigh-Durham International Airport in Morrisville, North Carolina; Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and Orlando International Airport in Orlando, Florida (MCO); JFK and MCO and MCO and Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, Connecticut.

The release highlighted recent rulemaking by the DOT under the Biden administration. According to the release, those rules constitute the “biggest expansion of airline consumer rights ever.”

In November, the heads of major passenger airlines publicly commented on their hopes that the DOT would take a new regulatory approach in the forthcoming Trump administration.

Buttigieg responded by saying the airlines should spend more time worrying about their passengers and less time worrying about their regulators.

The penalty should not significantly affect JetBlue financially.

When the company last released its quarterly earnings on Oct. 29, 2024, it reported bringing in about $2.2 billion in revenue in the third quarter of 2024.

Nevertheless, the company’s Securities and Exchange Commission filing said it recorded a net loss of $60 million in the same quarter.

Through the first three quarters of 2024, JetBlue has recorded a net loss of $751 million. That is a significant increase from the net loss of $207 million it suffered in the first three quarters of 2023.