David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Department of Transportation fined JetBlue Airways (NASDAQ: ) $2 million for operating four chronically delayed flights on domestic routes – the first time it has levied such a penalty on an airline for prohibited scheduling practices.
The USDOT said Friday that JetBlue, as part of a consent agreement with the airline, will pay a $1 million fine, with the rest going to compensate customers affected by its chronic delays or future outages in the next year.
As part of the settlement, JetBlue agreed to provide vouchers worth a minimum of $75 to passengers for future flight cancellations or delays of three hours or more caused by the airline over the next year.
JetBlue, which did not immediately comment, told USDOT it did not admit liability but agreed to the settlement to avoid the expense and uncertainty of litigation.
The USDOT said that at various times in 2022 and 2023, JetBlue experienced chronic flight delays between New York and Raleigh-Durham, Fort Lauderdale and Orlando, along with a flight between Fort Lauderdale and Windsor Locks, Connecticut.
“Regardless of the cause of the delay (carrier, weather, national airspace, security) for any particular flight, JetBlue had sufficient time to act to avoid chronic delays,” USDOT said.
The airline said it has spent tens of millions of dollars to address air traffic control issues, particularly in the US’s Northeast Corridor, to prevent any chronic delays as far as reasonably possible.
USDOT said there were 395 delays and cancellations on a total of four chronically delayed flights, meaning flights in the US were canceled or delayed more than 30 minutes more than 50% of the time during a month.
USDOT estimates that JetBlue is responsible for more than 70% of the disruptions for the four chronically late flights.
