JetBlue To Add Daily Nonstop Flights To San Juan, PR

[Duke]

JetBlue To Add Daily Nonstop Flights To San Juan
Airline Also Announces 2nd Daily Flight To, From Boston Next Spring

POSTED: Monday, October 4, 2010
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- The Jacksonville Aviation Authority on Monday announced that JetBlue will begin daily nonstop flights between Jacksonville and San Juan, Puerto Rico, beginning next May.

The new route will be the only nonstop service between the Caribbean and Jacksonville.

“This is great news for Northeast Florida and Southeast Georgia, especially those at the Jacksonville port, that conduct regular business with Puerto Rico,” said JAA Executive Director Steve Grossman. “We have been working to put together daily service to Puerto Rico for several years and this announcement is the culmination of a lot of hard work by the JAA staff and the Jacksonville community.”

The port of Jacksonville is one of the major exporters of consumer goods to Puerto Rico. Three of the four container lines that serve Puerto Rico are headquartered in Jacksonville.

"We have been looking forward to this for a long time," said Jacksonville Port Authority's Chief Commercial Officer Roy Schleicher. "Making access easier for business travelers, as well as tourists, will allow the Jacksonville-Puerto Rican connection to become even stronger than it already is and will open the door to further opportunity on both sides."

David McConnell, area vice president of Waste Management Inc. of Florida, welcomed the news of the new service. He currently drives to Orlando twice a month to travel to Puerto Rico where Waste Management operates the island’s only two private landfills.

“This is great news for me,” McConnell said. “I won’t have to drive to Orlando. This also allows us to expand our operations in Puerto Rico. It’s very beneficial as we grow our business down there.”

JetBlue also announced that it will add a second daily flight from Jacksonville to Boston in May 2011.

http://www.news4jax.com/travelgetaways/25273964/detail.html

[reednavy]

Great too hear.

[stjr]

There are also lots of people living in Jax from PR.  And, some Southern Caribbean cruises begin or end in San Juan.  This should give Jax and even Southeastern vacationers more options for their enjoyment.  Will this flight serve as a connecting flight for other Jet Blue flights into Jax?  Going through less crowded JIA has to beat many of the competing over-crowded airports to PR for ease of transfer, convenience, and schedule reliability.

[Duke]

I've never been to PR and so I don't know if you need a passport or not; I'm just wondering how/where JIA is going to house passport control now that concourse B is gone.  It's my understanding that concourse B is where this was once housed. 

[Lunican]

You do not need a passport to visit Puerto Rico.

[simms3]

It's the 51st state!    Awesome.  Am I mistaken or did we used to have an Air Canada flight out of JIA a long time ago?  If not is this our first "semi-international" regular flight?

[iluvolives]

Hopefully they will be a cheap as the JetBlue flight to PR out of Orlando- they run $29 each way specials pretty frequently.

[ChriswUfGator]

It's the 51st state!    Awesome.  Am I mistaken or did we used to have an Air Canada flight out of JIA a long time ago?  If not is this our first "semi-international" regular flight?

Yeah you're right I remember that, but I think it was some weird codeshare with NW that went to Detroit or something. I don't think it was truly an international flight. I think it got discontinued after the NW/DL merger.

[stjr]

I've never been to PR and so I don't know if you need a passport or not; I'm just wondering how/where JIA is going to house passport control now that concourse B is gone.  It's my understanding that concourse B is where this was once housed. 

PR is a U.S. Territory like Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands.  When you visit, you are still considered n the good ol' US of A.  All currency is US $$$ and even most 800 calls are toll free to the U.S. from these places.  As a U.S. Territory, they get all the benefits of the USA without paying taxes to it.  It's better than being a state!   

[simms3]

Yeah you're right I remember that, but I think it was some weird codeshare with NW that went to Detroit or something. I don't think it was truly an international flight. I think it got discontinued after the NW/DL merger.

What I am referring to was much longer ago than that, like the 90s.  I remember flying and seeing Air Canada as one of the airlines for one of the concourses.  I am just wondering if I am mistaken.  I really want to see more direct flights out of JIA and more international flights.  It's depressing to continuously here our number of boardings continue to fall for the third year in a row.  I love BIG airports

[ChriswUfGator]

Yeah you're right I remember that, but I think it was some weird codeshare with NW that went to Detroit or something. I don't think it was truly an international flight. I think it got discontinued after the NW/DL merger.

What I am referring to was much longer ago than that, like the 90s.  I remember flying and seeing Air Canada as one of the airlines for one of the concourses.  I am just wondering if I am mistaken.  I really want to see more direct flights out of JIA and more international flights.  It's depressing to continuously here our number of boardings continue to fall for the third year in a row.  I love BIG airports

Yeah I'm with you on that one. I am sick of flying to ATL or CLT to go anywhere. JetBlue had me there for awhile with their nonstop BOS flights, but then they jacked the prices up so that I was paying an extra $200+ over US, but at least on US I get what they pass off as F and it only takes an hour longer to get there. No brainer!

[Steve]

Passport control was in the old concourse C, and in the new concourse C

[Keith-N-Jax]

This is great no need to travel to Orl or Tampa now. Pr is a good inexpensive vacation. One of my favorites.

[Cricket]

This news doesn't excite me at all. PR as a tourist destination is not what it used to be. It bothers me to stay in a hotel surrounded by barbed wire. 

A bigger disappointment is JIA which is a misnomer. It is definitely not an international airport. The name is fake.

[reednavy]

This news doesn't excite me at all. PR as a tourist destination is not what it used to be. It bothers me to stay in a hotel surrounded by barbed wire. 

A bigger disappointment is JIA which is a misnomer. It is definitely not an international airport. The name is fake.

It may be "fake", but as long as it has U.S. Customs facilities, it can use "International" in the name, just like NW Florida Beaches Int'l.