DOT fines JetBlue for ‘chronically delayed flights’

The Department of Transportation fined JetBlue Airways $2 million for “chronically delayed flights,” the primary penalty of its kind, the DOT said Friday.

JetBlue operated 4 routes that were delayed at the very least 145 times from June 2022 through November 2023, the DOT said. Those were between JetBlue’s home hub at John F. Kennedy International Airport and Raleigh-Durham International Airport in North Carolina; between Fort Lauderdale and Orlando, Florida, and JFK, and between Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and Windsor Locks, Connecticut, in accordance with the DOT.

“Today’s motion puts your complete airline industry on notice that we expect their flight schedules to reflect reality,” said Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg in a news release.

JetBlue was liable for greater than 70% of the disruptions on the 4 routes, the DOT said. The airline didn’t adjust the flight times “to avoid illegal unrealistic scheduling,” the department added.

The DOT considers a flight chronically delayed whether it is flown at the very least 10 times a month and arrives over half-hour late greater than half the time. It said it has ongoing investigations into other airlines for unrealistic flight schedules.

JetBlue said in a press release the federal government has to do more to enhance staffing of air traffic controllers and modernize the system, echoing calls from executives at Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and other major carriers.

“While we have reached a settlement to resolve this matter regarding 4 flights in 2022 and 2023, we imagine accountability for reliable air travel equally lies with the U.S. government, which operates our nation’s air traffic control system,” JetBlue said in its statement. “We imagine the U.S. must have the safest, most effective, and advanced air traffic control system on the planet, and we urge the incoming administration to prioritize modernizing outdated ATC technology and addressing chronic air traffic controller staffing shortages to cut back ATC delays that affect thousands and thousands of air travelers every year.”

Based in Latest York, JetBlue operates in among the world’s most congested airspace. From January through September 2024, JetBlue ranked ninth out of 10 U.S. airlines in on-time arrivals with 71.3% of flights arriving on time, an improvement over 64.9% within the year-earlier period, in accordance with a monthly DOT tally.

The DOT said it might credit JetBlue $1 million of the positive for goodwill compensation already paid to passengers in the course of the investigation’s timeframe in addition to for compensation that’s payable inside a 12 months of the order with vouchers to affected passengers paid at at the very least $75.