As other airlines cut Cuba service, JetBlue applies for more flights to the island

While several U.S. airlines have cut flights to Cuba citing weak demand, JetBlue Airways is bucking the trend and looking to add new flights.

Last week, JetBlue filed an application with the U.S. Department of Transportation for seven of the 21 Cuba slots now available since Spirit Airlines, Silver Airways and Frontier Airlines announced they would completely pull out of Cuba by June 4.

The airline is requesting an additional Havana to Fort Lauderdale flight six times a week, from Sunday to Friday, and also plans to inaugurate weekly flights from Boston to the Cuban capital on Saturdays. The new flights would be effective November 1.

JetBlue currently operates daily service from New York and Orlando to Havana and 13 times weekly service from Fort Lauderdale to Havana.

The airline plans to use a smaller plane, a 162-seat Airbus A320 aircraft for the new flights — , a move it hopes will make it more competitive in Fort Lauderdale, where JetBlue is the largest airline. It also plans to bring additional options for connecting flights, said JetBlue spokesman Philip Stewart, in a statement.

“With these adjustments, Havana is performing well against our expectations and we are seeing strength in our group’s business,” Stewart said. “We hold an optimistic long-term view as visitor levels grow at a record pace.”

In August, JetBlue made history as the first U.S. airline to offer commercial service to the island since 1961 with a Fort Lauderdale-Santa Clara, Cuba flight.

Still, despite JetBlue’s additional commitment to Cuba, it previously joined other airlines in announcing adjustments to its Cuba plans. In February, the airline said it would move to smaller planes on several routes to adjust for demand to the island. In all, JetBlue is cutting capacity to Cuba by 300 seats a day beginning May 3.

That’s a small adjustment compared to massive changes from other airlines that have cut some, if not all, of their flights since the initial frenzy to add service to Cuba. The changes, experts said, were likely due to overly optimistic forecasts for demand.

American Airlines was the first to reduce its service to Cuba, announcing in November that it would cut flights from Miami International Airport to Holguín, Santa Clara and Varadero from two daily to one. In December, Silver Airways reduced the number of flights on six of its nine destinations to the island before announcing in March that it was cutting service to Cuba altogether on April 22. Last month, Frontier announced it would completely eliminate its Miami to Havana route on June 4.

Spirit is the latest airline to make a change, announcing earlier this month that it would reduce flights to once daily, from daily two flights between Fort Lauderdale and Havana, from May 3 to 23, offer its usual twice-daily flights from May 24 to 31 and then end flights altogether beginning June 1.

This story was originally published April 24, 2017 at 2:40 PM with the headline "As other airlines cut Cuba service, JetBlue applies for more flights to the island."