CCB MEDIA PHOTO: JetBlue will return to Cape Cod for the fourth straight summer to provide daily service between Hyannis and JFK Airport in New York.
HYANNIS – JetBlue is returning to Cape Cod this summer to provide daily flights between Hyannis and JFK Airport in New York.
The seasonal non-stop service aboard the 100-seat Embraer E190 twin-engine jet begins on June 15.
Barnstable Municipal Airport Manager Bud Breault said the news of the airline returning is mixed.
“It’s always wonderful that they are coming back but the season is a little bit shorter than it was last year,” Breault said. “They started in mid-May last year and the numbers just weren’t there to support it from their perspective. We thought it was a good season.”
The service through the shoulder season has also been shortened by the airline. The service will end this year on September 24 after running through Columbus Day weekend in October last year.
Flights from New York to Hyannis are scheduled to arrive in Hyannis at 12:17 p.m. with return flights leaving about 40 minutes later just before 1 p.m.
The service will run daily through the September 8 weekend and then just 4 trips per week through September 24.
Breault believes the shortened calendar was a numbers issue for JetBlue.
“There is a pilot shortage and they keep expanding their other routes,” Breault said. “Until they increase their fleet accordingly, we’re probably going to be in the mix. It changes every year.”
According to reports, JetBlue will announce Tuesday a new route between Worcester and JFK Airport.
Barnstable airport officials would like to see year-round service to New York and are discussing possibilities with JetBlue, along with other airports and airlines.
“We think there is definitely a market here and there’s enough people to support it and we just have to be able to prove that to the airlines,” Breault said. “They also need to have the pilots and the airframes to support it.”
Breault said he would like to see Cape Air resume flights between Hyannis and New York.
“Rectrix has talked about increasing their service to other destinations as well,” Breault said. “So time will tell.”
Rectrix Aviation began flying last year between Hyannis and Nantucket filling a gap left after the closure of Island Airlines.
By BRIAN MERCHANT, CapeCod.com NewsCenter
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