Again, transcontinental routes were chosen from Fort Lauderdale to Los Angeles and San Francisco, as those are some of the longest and most popular routes from the South Florida city.Īdditionally, more Carribean cities were added to the list of Mint service. Fort Lauderdale, another JetBlue hub, was next to receive Mint service. The product was widely popular among travelers and was regarded as one of the best domestic premium products by numerous travel writers and bloggers.Īs JetBlue was now starting to receive more A321s, it was able to open up more Mint routes. With the expansion of Mint, it was clear that JetBlue wasn’t going to limit the service to the transcontinental routes as the other major carriers did with their ultra-premium products. Mint also popped up on other popular routes for brief periods of time, allowing more passengers to experience the new service. Eventually, JetBlue’s other hub in Boston was given Mint service on its transcontinental routes and a once-weekly flight to Barbados. The popular Caribbean destinations of Barbados and Aruba were added to the list with once-daily Mint flights during the popular winter season. Not before long, JetBlue was already beginning to expand its Mint offerings. However, the premium cabin product was completely unexpected by most. The flying public had gotten a taste of what the Mint A321s were going to be like, as JetBlue’s non-Mint A321 aircraft have the same updated interior. With JetBlue now in play, though, everything changed.
The airline went from an all-economy configuration to having a business class product that rivaled that of the three major carriers that have since then had a stronghold on the transcontinental premium products. Initially, Mint was solely for the most popular transcontinental routes and the top money makers for most airlines: New York to Los Angeles and San Francisco.įor JetBlue, the product was revolutionary. Mint was announced in September 2013, the same year that the airline launched its standard A321s. The longer fuselage of the A321 allowed JetBlue to move forward with a premium cabin comparable to an international business class cabin that could go up against American, United and Delta’s transcontinental premium product. However, while the aircraft allowed for an increase in capacity, it also served as the launch aircraft for JetBlue’s new premium cabin. The aircraft was a perfect fit and a logical choice for JetBlue. Pilots simply undergo a differences training to learn the different characteristics of the aircraft. Even when in a Mint configuration, the aircraft can seat nine more passengers than its smaller sister.Īdditionally, the aircraft doesn’t require an additional type rating for pilots, since the entire A320 family has the same type rating. In its all-economy configuration, the aircraft can hold 200 people, a 50-seat increase compared to the A320s. The main benefits of acquiring the aircraft for JetBlue was the increased capacity and interchangeability with its existing A320 fleet. Now, the aircraft is used by almost every major U.S. carriers to realize the potential of the underrated plane and place an order for the aircraft. However, JetBlue was the first of many U.S.
Jetblue mint series#
Back then, most airlines chose the Boeing 757 series aircraft over the A321 due to its performance. However, those aircraft were older models that did not feature Sharklets. The airline was the first to acquire the type for its most popular routes such as Fort Lauderdale to New York and New York to San Juan.īefore JetBlue, only US Airways and Spirit Airlines had been using the type domestically. airlines to realize the potential of the Airbus A321, the largest aircraft in the Airbus A320 family, with Sharklets, a winglet that has the benefit of increased fuel efficiency. In order to compete with the big three on these popular cross-country routes, JetBlue decided to introduce a premium product of their own solely for transcontinental routes. JetBlue, however, was still using its A320s on the route, as it was the largest aircraft JetBlue had at the time.
Jetblue mint upgrade#
Lastly, Delta was beginning to upgrade its transcontinental offering from Boeing 757s to a mix of Boeing 757 and Boeing 767-300s with increased premium cabin amenities such as lie-flat seats. The newer aircraft features a 3-class configuration with lie-flat seats in first and business class and economy relegated to 12 rows. American Airlines had replaced its long-serving Boeing 767-200 widebodies on transcontinental routes from JFK to the West Coast with the smaller, newer Airbus A321T with Sharklets.
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