As of April 2026, Spirit Airlines held about 24% of the market share at the facility — a significant number of customers JetBlue is hoping to attract
NEED TO KNOW
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JetBlue just added eight new nonstop destinations from Fort Lauderdale with plans to increase daily departures to 150 by winter
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The airline is hiring former Spirit Airlines employees after the company abruptly ceased operations in May
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JetBlue is considering acquiring Spirit assets through bankruptcy court but is not interested in Spirit’s former headquarters located near the airport
JetBlue is drastically expanding its services at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL) in Florida as the company seeks to fill the void left behind after Spirit Airlines’ abruptly ceased operations in May.
“Fort Lauderdale is a fantastic opportunity for us. We knew, as most of the public knew, that Spirit was not great. They filed for bankruptcy twice, so we’ve been preparing for this day over the last months,” JetBlue CEO Joanna Geraghty told Miami outlet WPLG.
The comments come as the airline added eight additional nonstop destinations from Fort Lauderdale on Thursday, July 9 — with six more destinations on the way, per a press release. That brings the company’s total number of daily departures at the facility to about 130 with more than 55 nonstop destinations. By winter, JetBlue hopes to increase daily departures to about 150.
In order to fulfill those goals, the company is bringing on additional personnel to staff its routes. JetBlue didn’t have to look far to fill those gaps. “JetBlue’s growing in the Fort Lauderdale area,” Geraghty said. “We’re going to be growing to about 150 by the end, so we are hiring across most of our workgroups and hiring Spirit crew members.”…