JetBlue Airways carried 39.4 million passengers between February 2025 and January 2026. Many changes to its network and wider operations meant that traffic fell by 1.2 million passengers compared to the prior 12 months (-3.0%).

Its share of the vast US market fell slightly. The country’s sixth-largest operator, it transported one in every 29 passengers. Of course, this share will now increase due to the cessation of the defunct Spirit Airlines, which was the nation’s eighth-largest operator. JetBlue has added multiple additional routes from Fort Lauderdale, which was Spirit’s most-served airport.

This Route Had JetBlue’s Lowest Load Factor

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According to the US Department of Transportation (DOT), 73% of JetBlue’s passengers flew domestically in the 12 months to January 2026. It ranked sixth nationally in this sense. Things were different internationally. A considerable 27% of its traffic flew beyond the country’s borders, which meant it was the US’s fourth-largest international carrier.

JetBlue’s overall load factor (technically, seat factor) was 82.3%, which was only marginally above the country’s average result. This says little in itself, and it should not be considered in isolation from other performance measures. The airline’s international load pushed it down (81.2%), although that was higher than for some US operators, such as Southwest Airlines (80.9%). Of course, it is always about how it is achieved.

With an unbelievably poor load of just 29.2%, New York JFK Airport (JFK) to Manchester, New Hampshire, filled the fewest seats. Cirium Diio shows this route, which operated daily on the 162-seat Airbus A320, existed between June and September 2025. Only around 47 seats were filled per flight. The DOT shows two-thirds of passengers connected to another flight at JFK.

JetBlue’s 2nd To 5th-Worst Result In This Sense

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In second place was JFK to Providence, with a load of just 36.5% (31,839 passengers). Next was by JFK to Hartford with 40.5% (36,109 passengers), followed by Boston Logan International Airport (BOS) to Martha’s Vineyard with 46.2% (9,297 passengers). All these routes remain operational in 2026.

With a load of 46.8%, Fort Lauderdale to Grand Cayman ranked fifth (3,318 passengers). It was JetBlue’s worst-performing international route by load factor. While clearly poor, it was influenced by flights relaunching in December 2025, having ended in 2022. It is perhaps unfair to include it.

The routes from JFK to Providence and Hartford are, of course, even shorter than those to Manchester. They materialized at least partly for slot-sitting reasons, although also for passengers connecting to destinations behind JFK. Some other airlines’ extremely low loads were on such links, including American Airlines from JFK to Worcester.

JetBlue only started flying from the Big Apple to the most populous cities in Connecticut and Rhode Island in April 2025, with a daily A320 service to both places (the A220-300 has also appeared in Hartford). Unsurprisingly, nearly all the Hartford passengers (86%) transited to another service at JFK. That still meant over 5,000 people only flew to/from JFK.

Booking data indicates that most people connected from Hartford via JFK to Aruba, Cancun, Los Angeles, Punta Cana, and Montego Bay. Perhaps not coincidentally, Avelo Airlines operated nonstop to/from Cancun, Punta Cana, and Montego Bay last year, but that carrier has since cut all its international routes. JetBlue’s final nonstop service from Hartford to Los Angeles was in 2024, which influenced that city’s high ranking.

These Were The 6th To 10th-Lowest Results

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The remaining routes barely filled half of the available seats. With a load of just 49.5%, the DOT shows that JetBlue’s sixth-worst result in the 12 months to January 2026 was JFK to Vero Beach (7,838 passengers).

JetBlue only launched this link to Florida in December last year, so it is too early to conclude anything. It was the first time JFK had flights Vero Beach. While initially served by the A320, the A220-300 will take over in June, with the A320 returning in winter 2026/2027 for the higher traffic.

In seventh place was BOS to Presque Isle (50.3%; 42,270 passengers), followed by BOS to New York LaGuardia (51.8%; 47,747 passengers), Tampa to Punta Cana (52.5%; 7,654 passengers), and JFK to Hyannis (54.3%; 16,278 passengers). The link to Presque Isle is highly unusual in JetBlue’s network. It is funded by the Essential Air Service, with $10 to $11 million in subsidies each year. Nearly $12 million annually is requested for operations to continue.