DOT fines JetBlue for ‘chronically delayed flights’

The Division of Transportation fined JetBlue Airways $2 million for “chronically delayed flights,” the primary penalty of its sort, the DOT mentioned Friday.

JetBlue operated 4 routes that have been delayed not less than 145 occasions from June 2022 by way of November 2023, the DOT mentioned. These have been between JetBlue’s dwelling hub at John F. Kennedy Worldwide Airport and Raleigh-Durham Worldwide Airport in North Carolina; between Fort Lauderdale and Orlando, Florida, and JFK, and between Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and Windsor Locks, Connecticut, in keeping with the DOT.

“At this time’s motion places your entire airline trade on discover that we count on their flight schedules to mirror actuality,” mentioned Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg in a information launch.

JetBlue was liable for greater than 70% of the disruptions on the 4 routes, the DOT mentioned. The airline failed to regulate the flight occasions “to keep away from unlawful unrealistic scheduling,” the division added.

The DOT considers a flight chronically delayed whether it is flown not less than 10 occasions a month and arrives over half-hour late greater than half the time. It mentioned it has ongoing investigations into different airways for unrealistic flight schedules.

JetBlue mentioned in a press release the federal government has to do extra to enhance staffing of air visitors controllers and modernize the system, echoing calls from executives at Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and different main carriers.

“Whereas we have reached a settlement to resolve this matter relating to 4 flights in 2022 and 2023, we consider accountability for dependable air journey equally lies with the U.S. authorities, which operates our nation’s air visitors management system,” JetBlue mentioned in its assertion. “We consider the U.S. ought to have the most secure, most effective, and superior air visitors management system on the earth, and we urge the incoming administration to prioritize modernizing outdated ATC know-how and addressing persistent air visitors controller staffing shortages to cut back ATC delays that have an effect on hundreds of thousands of air vacationers every year.”

Based mostly in New York, JetBlue operates in among the world’s most congested airspace. From January by way of September 2024, JetBlue ranked ninth out of 10 U.S. airways in on-time arrivals with 71.3% of flights arriving on time, an enchancment over 64.9% within the year-earlier interval, in keeping with a month-to-month DOT tally.

The DOT mentioned it might credit score JetBlue $1 million of the nice for goodwill compensation already paid to passengers throughout the investigation’s timeframe in addition to for compensation that’s payable inside a yr of the order with vouchers to affected passengers paid at not less than $75.