JetBlue Airways was founded in 1998 by David Neeleman, a former Southwest Airlines manager. He set out to 'bring humanity back to air travel.' The airline launched from New York JFK in February 2000 with brand-new Airbus A320s. Passengers got free live seatback television, leather seats, and unlimited blue-chip snacks. That mix broke the idea that low fares meant a bare-bones product.
The first flight ran from JFK to Fort Lauderdale. JetBlue grew fast along the East Coast and added Florida, the Caribbean, and the West Coast. An infamous ice storm on Valentine's Day 2007 caused a meltdown. In response the airline wrote a Customer Bill of Rights, a first for the industry. In 2014 it added the Mint cabin, with lie-flat seats, on coast-to-coast routes, forcing older rivals to improve.
Its first Airbus A220 arrived in 2020. In 2021 JetBlue crossed the Atlantic for the first time, flying A321LRs from New York to London, then adding Paris, Amsterdam, Edinburgh, Dublin, and Madrid. A federal judge struck down its Northeast Alliance with American in 2023, and its Spirit Airlines purchase was blocked in 2024. JetBlue now leans on vacation travel under its JetForward plan and a United partnership called Blue Sky.