JetBlue Schedules The World’s Longest A220 Flight For September

JetBlue intends to use the A220 on 26 routes in September 2022, including from Boston to San Jose and Portland on the West Coast, along with two routes to Cancun. The carrier’s booking engine now reflects the changes. Currently, Boston to San Jose has the longest block time of any A220 route scheduled next September, but it won’t be the longest by distance.

JetBlue will have 26 A220 routes in September 2022, most replacing the larger A320. It’ll benefit from a lower trip cost, fewer seats to fill, and hopefully stronger unit revenue. Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying.

What’s happening?

JetBlue has revealed plans to operate 26 A220-300 routes in September 2022 – its most ever. Some 18 routes will be from Boston, six from New York JFK, and two from Cancun.

In comparison, in October 2021, JetBlue deploys the 140-seat aircraft on nine routes solely from Boston: Atlanta; Austin; Fort Lauderdale; Fort Myers; Houston Intercontinental; Nashville; San Antonio; Savannah; and Tampa.

JetBlue currently has six A220-300s with a further 64 to be delivered. Until March, the type will be used only from Boston, after which JFK comes online with routes to Kansas City and Milwaukee. As it presently stands, these two routes will be the only A220 services from JFK until September, when Albuquerque, Nashville, New Orleans, and San Antonio will all commence.

Expect more routes by the small Airbus in the coming months. Source of data: Cirium.

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The A220 to San Jose and Portland

The biggest standouts are Boston’s long routes to San Jose (California) and Portland (Oregon). Both will first see the smaller jet from September 8th, with JetBlue’s booking engine confirming the changes. JetBlue first took off from Boston to San Jose in 2005 and Portland in 2011.

At 2,336 nautical miles, the block time to San Jose is six hours and 39 minutes. To Portland, it’s 2,205nm and six hours and 15 minutes. The schedule is as follows; all times are local, and both routes are seven weekly.

• B61171: Boston-San Jose, 16:30-20:09
• B6672: San Jose-Boston, 21:00-05:35+1 (the next day)
• B61395: Boston-Portland: 19:55-23:10
• B61396: Portland-Boston: 23:59-08:18+1 (the next day)

This is where JetBlue plans to use the A220 next September. Image: OAG Mapper.

World’s longest A220 route by block time

At six hours and 39 minutes, JetBlue’s Boston to San Jose will have the longest block time of any other A220 route currently scheduled for that month. It can and probably will change. However, it won’t be the longest if measured in nautical miles. That honor goes to Air Austral’s Saint-Denis (Réunion) to Chennai, a distance of 2,494nm, the vast majority of which is over water.

On randomly chosen September 13th, 2022, JetBlue expects 52 A220 movements. Only Boston to Austin, Chicago, Minneapolis, and Nashville will have two flights each way. Photo: Adam Moreira via Flickr.

Things are different if October 2021 is looked at. airBaltic’s links from Riga to Dubai and Tenerife South have marginally longer block times than Boston-San Jose, although only Tenerife is longer by distance. However, neither airBaltic route is bookable next September.

What do you make of JetBlue’s plans for its A220s? Let us know in the comments.

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