JetBlue Will Fly Less Premium Planes To London As Well

An interesting development occurred a couple of days ago when it was learned that the airline would be using the A321neo instead of the A321LR on the route to London. The implications for service in economy class were something I wanted to cover.

JetBlue will start flying A321neo to London Gatwick

The airline made a lot of noise in the year 2021. Many of us have been rooting for JetBlue to do the same on trans-Atlantic flights as it has done in the United States.

The airline ordered the A321LRs for its flights between the US and Europe. Four of the planes have already been delivered. 24 business class seats, 24 extra legroom economy seats, and 90 economy seats are included in the plane's ultra-premium configuration. There are flights from Boston and New York to London already.

The plan was for the airline to only fly A321LRs across the Atlantic. Between October 29 and December 18, the airline will have an A321neo on the New York route. It's possible that this could be extended.

The new A321neos have 160 seats, including 16 business class seats, 42 extra legroom economy seats, and 102 economy seats. The Mint Suite and Mint Studio were included in the new business class on the A321neo.

The A321neos are required to operate over large bodies of water in order for them to be certified by the airline. It is expected that this will be approved in the next few weeks. This route is close to the A321neo but not as close as the A321LR.

JetBlue will modify its onboard service on A321neo

There are some implications to the swap for passengers. Depending on where the plane is intended to fly to, airlines install different galleys on the plane.

The front and rear of the aircraft have ovens, but the A321neos only have ovens in the front of the plane. Hot meals won't be served in the economy on flights operated by the A321neos. There should be minimal changes to mint service.

It will be a disappointment for some economy passengers that this will be the case.

Passengers can expect cold meals on A321neos. I think it will be a bit of a downgrade since hot food isn't always better than cold food.

What’s JetBlue’s motivation for this aircraft change?

Is it because executives think it's better to fly a less expensive plane across the Atlantic than a more expensive one? It doesn't bode well for the success of the flights if that is the case.

• Many airlines carry a significant amount of cargo across the Atlantic, but that’s severely limited on JetBlue, given that JetBlue has narrow body planes
• On transatlantic flights, most airlines make their money in business class; JetBlue not being able to sell the business class cabin makes the economics of service like this tough
• New York to London is an uber-competitive market in economy, and roundtrip fares are regularly under $550 per person including all taxes & fees; JetBlue also isn’t a high fee airline, so that seems like a recipe for losing money, especially with oil prices where they are right now

That is probably not the reason. The airline is expanding in London and is experiencing delivery delays. There will be a second daily flight from New York to London on October 29, 2022.

I think that the A321neo is the only way to operate this route at the moment. I wonder if A321neos is a part of the long term plan for the airline.

Bottom line

For the first time, the airline will fly an A321neo to London instead of an A321LR. The plane has the same types of seats, but it is in a less premium configuration. Due to the lack of ovens in the back of the plane, passengers will be served cold food.

Delivery delays with the A321LRs may be the reason for the change. I wonder if we will see A321neos on long routes in the future. I don't see how the economics of this are supposed to work, given the cheap fares, the lack of ancillary fees, and the A321neo's lack of cargo capacity.

Do you think the A321neo is a good plane to fly to London?