For almost two decades, jetBlue has been the primary carrier at Long Beach Airport (KLGB), located just south of the hustle and bustle known as Los Angeles (KLAX). For years, it has been a go to for tourists, business travelers, and more to escape the traffic and the lines. Long Beach was a gateway to the Pacific Northwest, NorCal, New York, Boston, and the south. But now, it will no longer be the same.
Today, jetBlue has announced that it will discontinue all flights from Long Beach in a shuffle so devastating to the residents of SoCal. All of the flights currently operating at Long Beach, with the exception of Portland (which will be discontinued entirely), will be moved over to LAX. The list of LAX routes listed below.
Los Angeles
- Austin
- Boston Logan (BOS)
- Bozeman (BZN)
- Buffalo (BUF)
- Fort Lauderdale (FLL)
- Las Vegas
- New York John F. Kennedy (JFK)
- Newark Liberty (begins July 23)
- Orlando (MCO)
- Reno (RNO)
- Salt Lake City (SLC)
- San Francisco
- Seattle-Tacoma (SEA)
What does this mean for Long Beach?
A once thriving airport, ranked #10 in the list of best small airports in the United States, has lost itās biggest airline. With JetBlueās departure, gates 6-10 will now be up for grabs. With Hawaiian and American suspending their LGB services until August at the minimum, that leaves Delta and Southwest as the sole carriers at LGB. I expect Southwest to build up where jetBlue had room to build themselves. With Southwest expanding LGB services to Texas, I can see them expanding where they couldnāt at SNA and LAX. I wouldnāt be surprised at all if some LAX routes were moved over to LGB. But, for now, all we can do is wait and see.
The original article is linked below.
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Iām sure Southwest is thrilled, they just launched new LGB routes.
Southwest: 1ļøā£
JetBlue: 0ļøā£
JetBlue will also become the 6th carrier operating LAX-AUS
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The worst part about this is that we have $900 in credit from a canceled LGB-BOS, JFK-LGB trip from April, so now we have to fly out of LAX š¤¢
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Is this good? Are Jetblue good? I donāt know š
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Ok this is good news because JetBlue is restarting LAX-BUF! Did they say when itās restarting?
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They are one of the best (if not the best) carriers in the United States.
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Oh, nice. So this is good š (I think š)
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Iāve tried JetBlue and havenāt got any issues with them (yes I know Iāve sleep throughout two flights :P)
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LGB was one of their most unique bases because of the boarding via stairs option. They had some pretty unique routes from there. And since it was away from LAX I can more or less see it as beneficial. SWA will definitely build off of the freed up slots. Also with their move to LAX, will there possibly be an additional mint route to BOS and JFK, since there was LGB-JFK/BOS? Just a thought to consider.
I guess this makes LAX a hub for AA (excluding the drop in the trans-pacific routes), DL, UA, AS and a focus city for SWA and now JBU. Wow either LAX is just more packed than ever or something
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Thereās already 6 or 7 dailies to New York and 2-4 to Boston with Mint, so I wouldnāt expect to see more services. In addition, the Long Beach flights were all A320s (no Mint).
LGB is certainly unique, and jetBlue had the luxury of operating from the north concourse (nice one) - the south concourse is a bit āplainā. I wouldnāt be surprised to see SWA start a Midway, Dallas, or Houston flight(s) in the emptied slots.
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That was some quick reaction time Thunderbolt. I saw you got the report from the points guy but its kind of funny because I get a Simple Flying notification about 15mins ago about this.
Maybe one day when they get their shiny new CS300s theyāll do what others havenāt and launch some flights to GJT.
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The existing competition on their new routes out of LAX:
- AUS: AA, DL, United, Southwest, Spirit
- BZN: AA, DL, UA, Allegiant
- LAS: AA, DL, UA, Alaska, Sun Country, Allegiant, Southwest, Spirit, Frontier
- RNO: AA, UA, Southwest
- SLC-AA, DL, UA, Southwest
- SFO: AA, DL, UA, Alaska, Southwest
- SEA: AA, DL, UA, Alaska, Southwest.
Yeah, good luck to them.
Itās been out for around 3 hours, get it fast by following the TPG author on Twitter š
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Why would JBU leave a niche market (LGB) though with hindrance in expansion and move to the most competitive airport in California? No idea :(. Seems like they are very, very eager to expand and likely to target hubs with legacy and other airlines involvement (like JBUās recent Newark āshenanigansā with United).
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Why did I instantly think this was @Ishrionās topic
Very interesting that JetBlue left LGB. Glad to see them expanding!
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JetBlue has been winding down LGB for the past several years.
They wanted to launch flights from LGB to Mexico and the Caribbean, and they were even willing to spend money on building a customs/immigration facility at LGB, but the City Council rejected the proposal.
This made JetBlue mad:
We are profoundly disappointed that after years of delay and a city-mandated study validating the safety, security and economic positive nature of the project, that the City Council would reject the development of a Federal Inspection Station at Long Beach Airport. JetBlue will evaluate its future plans for Long Beach, the greater Los Angeles area and California.
In their press release today, JetBlue even said LAX had the immigration facilities they needed:
āLAX is the busiest origin and destination (O&D) market in the world, meaning more people start or end their journey at LAX ā versus connect through ā than any other airport. Its 24/7 operations and customs and immigration facilities also allow JetBlue more flexibility in future flight and destination scheduling.ā
JetBlueās Long Beach base was apparently performing poorly for the past few years compared to its other bases. I guess JetBlue is shifting to LAX to establish itself there and gain some market share while the other legacy carriers are weak right now. They see more potential in LAX (thanks to international capabilities) than being restricted at LGB.
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This is actually a really sad decision in my opinion. Long Beachās cute airport and JetBlue made for a perfect fit. Anyways, there are arguments for LAX as well, I am sure, such as better international connections. Thanks for the information!
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Iām really sad too, but I canāt wait to see what is in the future of my home airport. I have a high feeling that Southwest will pounce and start expanding to places that Long Beach Airport has never seen before.
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This came as an absolute shock to me. Iāve only flown out of Long Beach once, when I was heading back home from a business trip, but the JetBlue service there was unparalleled. I canāt imagine Long Beach without them.
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I wouldnāt be surprised if SWA ditched the South terminal and took over the North.
Though Iāve been waiting to see if JB would leave because there were rumors last year.
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The only other tenants of the north concourse are American (gate 5) and Hawaiian (gate 11), both of which arenāt flying to LGB at the moment, which means they could if they wanted to. Thereās some shops, several restaurants, and plenty of seating there.
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