Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport today announced JetBlue Airways as the latest addition to its lineup of domestic air carriers.
In the second quarter of 2022, JetBlue will launch nonstop service from Milwaukee to Boston Logan International Airport and New York/John F. Kennedy International Airport. Flight schedules, aircraft type and launch date will be announced at a later date.
Currently, no other carrier offers direct service from Milwaukee to Boston Logan or JFK.
“This is exciting news for travelers throughout Wisconsin,” said airport director Brian Dranzik. “JetBlue is the largest domestic airline not already serving MKE, and this will be a fantastic option for passengers traveling to and from Milwaukee in 2022. The new routes also allow for easy connections to other destinations from New York and Boston.”
In addition, the New York-based airline recently formed a codeshare partnership with American Airlines, which will open new routes to Europe and beyond, said Dranzik.
“As more travelers return to the skies, we’ve taken a fresh look at our route map and identified new places where our award-winning service and low fares can help stimulate recovery and advance our focus city growth strategy in the Northeast,” said Andrea Lusso, vice president network planning at JetBlue.
JetBlue is the second major carrier to join MKE this year. In February, Spirit Airlines announced it will begin nonstop daily flights from Milwaukee to Orlando, Las Vegas and Los Angeles this summer.
Meanwhile, the airport’s existing airlines have added new routes from Milwauke recently. In March, United Airlines announced new nonstop service to Charleston, South Carolina; Myrtle Beach, South Carolina; Pensacola, Florida; Portland, Maine and Savannah, Georgia. Days later, Southwest Airlines announced new nonstop service to Destin, Florida this summer.
Earlier this week, the airport announced American Airlines, which offered flights between Milwaukee and Miami during the winter, will resume nonstop flights between the two cities on June 5.
JetBlue will be the ninth passenger airline serving Mitchell International. The others include Air Canada, Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Airlines, Frontier Airlines, Southwest Airlines, United Airlines and Spirit.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, passenger traffic at Mitchell International fell 61.9% in 2020 to 2.6 million passengers, down from nearly 6.9 million passengers in 2019. According to the airport’s most recent monthly data, 181,359 passengers used the airport in February, compared to about 501,558 during the same month in 2020.
