2021 saw JetBlue enter the transatlantic market with its services from the US East Coast to London. This represents a key part of what is an exciting time for JetBlue, which is also in the process of modernizing its fleet. Let’s take a look at the planes it operates.
The Airbus A320 series
According to data from ch-aviation.com, JetBlue’s current fleet consists of 281 jet-powered airliners. Despite being a US carrier, none of its planes come from Boeing, the country’s manufacturing giant. Instead, JetBlue favors Airbus, and it operates 130 examples of the European planemaker’s standard A320-200 model.
These twinjets are 16.3 years old on average. Meanwhile, its larger A321-200s are around three times younger, with an average age of 5.4 years old. JetBlue flies 63 examples of this design, of which just one is presently inactive. The A320-200s also have a strong usage rate, with ch-aviation listing just six of the 130 examples as presently being in maintenance.
Airbus also represents the future of the core of JetBlue’s fleet, with the new A321neo playing a significant role. The airline currently flies 17 standard A321neos, and four examples of the long-range A321LR. It has a further 40 and 13 examples of each of these on order. In the future, it also plans to receive 11 examples of the extra-long-range A321XLR.
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Dozens of Embraers
At the smaller end of the scale, JetBlue also operates 60 regional jets from Brazilian manufacturer Embraer. All of these are examples of the Embraer 190 model, and just two were inactive at the time of writing. These aircraft were in storage in Boston (N307JB) and Orlando (N318JB). JetBlue’s Embraers have an average age of 13.1 years old.
2005 saw JetBlue become the launch customer for the Embraer 190, which is a stretched and re-engined version of the earlier 170/175 series. Each of these aircraft sports a two-class configuration, consisting of 100 four-abreast seats. 84 of these are standard economy seats, with the remaining 16 being ‘Even More Space’ extra legroom seats.
Five-abreast: the Airbus A220
So far, we have covered JetBlue’s aircraft that have either four or six seats in each row of the plane’s standard economy class cabin. However, the airline also has a degree of representation for models with five-abreast seating in the form of the Airbus A220-300.
These modern twinjets have a 3-2 seating configuration, and are known for their generously large windows. JetBlue presently operates seven A220s, having taken delivery of the first example in January 2021. The type entered service with the airline three months later.
At the time of writing, ch-aviation listed JetBlue as having a further 63 A220s on order. This means that its eventual fleet size for the type will reach 70. It has fitted each of its existing examples with 140 seats, of which 110 belong to the plane’s standard economy class cabin. The remaining 30 are, once again, examples of JetBlue’s ‘Even More Space’ seats.
What do you make of JetBlue’s current fleet? Would you be tempted to fly transatlantic on one of its narrowbodies? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
