JetBlue’s reputation for lowering fares is so well known in the airline industry that it has earned a name: the “JetBlue Effect.” JetBlue’s record in Boston and New York City illustrates why. Since launching service at Boston Logan in 2004, JetBlue has challenged the major airlines—including American—by offering lower fares and better service. Consumers voted with their feet. JetBlue became Boston’s leading airline, offering more flights out of Boston than any other airline. What’s more, JetBlue forced American and other airlines that serve Boston to lower their fares as well. This competition has resulted in substantial savings for consumers. In 2019, JetBlue estimated that it had saved consumers flying to and from Boston more than $3 billion since it started serving the airport in 2004. JetBlue has had a similar effect in New York City. In a presentation titled “16 Years of Disrupting the Industry,” JetBlue explained that “there’s no question we are a disruptor. There’s no better example of how we’ve influenced change than at our home at JFK Airport.”

Look what’s happened on the Boston-LaGuardia shuttle these days. Look what’s happened to London fares. I mean, time and time again when JetBlue steps into a market, there’s a market-wide positive impact. So, we are confident in our case. We would not have entered into this if we didn’t feel confident. Spirit have said, wow, why did they wait seven weeks? You know what we were doing in that seven weeks? We were running all the economic analyses again. We were crunching all of the fare data to make sure the JetBlue effect was real and common. We were looking at every way, upside down, inside out to make sure that everything we believed back in 2019 was still the case.