US fines JetBlue $2m for ‘chronically delayed flights’ in unprecedented act
Share:
Department of Transportation denounces ‘unrealistic’ JetBlue schedules in yet another setback for the airline. The US Department of Transportation (DOT) announced on Friday a $2m fine against JetBlue for “operating multiple chronically delayed flights”. The agency said it was the first time it had fined an airline for chronic delays on specific routes, which it said was caused by “unrealistic” scheduling practices by JetBlue.
“Illegal chronic flight delays make flying unreliable for travelers. Today’s action puts the entire airline industry on notice that we expect their flight schedules to reflect reality,” the transportation secretary, Pete Buttigieg, said in a statement.
The Department of Transportation defines “chronic delays” as flights that are flown at least 10 times a month and arrive more than 30 minutes late more than 50% of the time. The DOT says an investigation into JetBlue found that the airline operated four chronically delayed flights at least 145 times between June 2022 through November 2023. Each flight was chronically delayed for at least five consecutive months.
JetBlue had been previously warned by the DOT about persistent delays on its flights between Kennedy international airport and Raleigh-Durham international airport in North Carolina, according to the federal agency’s statement. Despite the warning, JetBlue went on to operate three more repeatedly delayed flights between Fort Lauderdale and Orlando, Florida, and JFK; and between Fort Lauderdale and Windsor Locks in Connecticut, the DOT said. They found that there were a total of 395 delays and cancellations across these four chronically delayed flights.
