Despite a lot of market consolidation in the past 20 years, there are still a lot of notable airlines in the USA, which thrive in the shadow of the big three American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines. While long-time success stories like Southwest and Spirit Airlines have been going through a bit of a rough patch recently, jetBlue and especially Alaska Airlines are trending upwards.
jetBlue Re-Adjusts Transatlantic Network
jetBlue has started long-haul operations three years ago and is currently re-adjusting its transatlantic network, adding Madrid and Edinburgh to its list of 2025 summer destinations from Boston. On the other side of the spectrum, the airline won’t be re-starting a second daily New York to Paris service and flights from JFK to Gatwick. These were supposedly just stopped for the winter, but now have been cut altogether.
Both moves fit the bigger picture of jetBlue slowly pulling out of New York and focusing on Boston, as the airline also discontinued a bunch of domestic connections from the Big Apple, among them the prestigious New York – Miami service. They also pulled aircraft equipped with their excellent Mint business class from domestic flights to Seattle to put them to better use on their intercontinental flights.
The addition of Madrid marks the jetBlue’s seventh European destination in Europe. After starting out with flights to both London Heathrow and Gatwick in 2021, the airline added flights to Amsterdam, Dublin, Edinburgh and Paris over the years. All of them are available from either Boston or New York, as the range of jetBlue’s Airbus A321LR aircraft prevents them from starting further away from the East Coast. The same issue comes to play on the other side of the ocean, as the airline cannot serve popular tourist destinations like Rome or Athens non-stop from their hubs.
Benefit from jetBlue’s Current Status Match
Prices for a roundtrip from Boston to Madrid currently go as low as US$493 (~€421). While this is a Blue Basic fare without checked bags, you can complete jetBlue’s status match before departure and benefit from free hold luggage and seat selection on your flight. This is possible for a trip the the Scottish Highlands, as well. Roundtrips from Boston to Edinburgh start at US$496 (~€423).
Alaska Airlines Flies Hawaiian A330s from Seattle
Alaska Airlines has made an even bigger impact: After taking over competitor Virgin America in 2018 and becoming the fourth airline from the USA to join a global alliance, it continues to grow. Following the acquisition of Hawaiian Airlines (and their fleet of Airbus A330 and Boeing 787 aircraft), the Oneworld member owns long-haul planes for the first time in company history. While those will continue to fly under the Hawaiian brand name and connect the Pacific Islands to the American mainland, Asia and Australia, some jets will commence long-haul operations out of Seattle.
For 2025, Alaska Airlines has announced its first and second intercontinental destinations. Flights to Tokyo-Narita begin in May 2025 and are on sale as of today. The cheapest roundtrips from Seattle currently available start at €861 (~US$1,009) for departures in September. Hawaiian joins fellow Oneworld carrier Japan Airlines on the route to Narita, while competitors Delta Air Lines (SkyTeam) und All Nippon Airways (Star Alliance) offer daily services to Tokyo’s biggest airport, Haneda. On all dates we checked, Alaska Airlines was never the cheapest option in economy class and solemnly in business class.
During the first months of service, a Hawaiian Airbus A330-200 operates flights across the Pacific, which seems to be an odd choice, as they feature a rather dated 2-2-2 business class. The Boeing 787 with its newer seats and 1-2-1 seems in a better place to compete with the state-of-the-art product of each competitor. The same planes will be operating flights from Seattle to Seoul, starting in October 2025.
In an interesting sidenote for aviation geeks, Alaska Airlines confirmed that it will be deploying Hawaiian’s Airbus A330 fleet on domestic flights from Seattle: During the 2025 summer schedule, some flights to Anchorage will be operated by the widebody aircraft, rather than Alaska’s Boeing 737 fleet.
Cover Picture: Photo by Sachin Amjhad on Unsplash