The Department of Transportation fined JetBlue Airways $2 million for “operating multiple chronically delayed flights,” the first time an airline has been penalized for such a thing.
The DOT investigation uncovered four flights that were chronically delayed between June 2022 and November 2023 for at least five straight months. There were a total of 395 delays and cancellations between the four flight routes, garnering the airline criticism for engaging in an “unrealistic scheduling practice which can harm both passengers and fair competition across the airline industry.”
These frequent delays were recorded on flights going between New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport and Raleigh-Durham International Airport in North Carolina, JFK and Fort Lauderdale in Florida, JFK and Orlando, and Windsor Locks and Fort Lauderdale.
“Illegal chronic flight delays make flying unreliable for travelers. Today’s action puts the entire airline industry on notice that we expect their flight schedules to reflect reality,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a statement.
For a flight to be considered chronically delayed, it must be flown out at least 10 times a month and arrive more than 30 minutes late more than half of the time. The DOT includes cancellations as part of this calculation. The government will classify a flight that is consistently delayed more than four consecutive months to be considered unrealistic scheduling.
Half of the $2 million fine will go to the Treasury Department, and the other half will go back to customers who have been affected by those chronically delayed flights or future customers who are delayed by three hours or more within the next year. Each impacted customer will be eligible for a $75 compensation check.
JetBlue was given notice to make adjustments to flight schedules by the DOT and was given “adequate time to fix their schedule after a flight becomes chronically delayed to avoid illegal unrealistic scheduling.” However, the DOT stated that “JetBlue failed to do so.”
Meanwhile, the $2.61 billion airline stated that part of the blame for its flight delays falls on the government, which operates the air traffic control. JetBlue shared that the incoming Trump administration must “prioritize modernizing outdated ATC technology” and address “chronic air traffic controller staffing shortages to reduce ATC delays that affect millions of air travelers each year.”
Airline spokesman Derek Dombrowski told the Associated Press that the airline has since invested “tens of millions of dollars to reduce flight delays, particularly related to ongoing air traffic control challenges in our largest markets in the Northeast and Florida.”
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“While we’ve reached a settlement to resolve this matter regarding four (routes) in 2022 and 2023, we believe accountability for reliable air travel equally lies with the U.S. government, which operates our nation’s air traffic control system,” Dombrowski said.
Data collected by the DOT found that JetBlue was responsible for 70% of the disruptions for the four chronically delayed flights.
