JetBlue is launching a Caribbean expansion beginning in August, with new routes to Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands. 

Beginning Aug. 6, JetBlue will be operating a new route from Philadelphia to San Juan, Puerto Rico’s Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport “up to once daily,” the carrier said this week. 

In October, JetBlue will be launching a new route from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport to St Thomas, with up to two weekly flights to the island’s Cyril E. King Airport. 

“Coronavirus has transformed airline route maps, and as we begin to see small signs of recovery, we continue to be flexible with our network plans to respond to demand trends and generate cash in support of our business,” said Scott Laurence, head of revenue and planning at JetBlue. “We’ve selected routes where customers are showing some interest in travel again and where our low fares and award-winning experience will be noticed.”

The carrier will be operating both routes on its Airbus A320 aircraft. 

It should be noted that both of these are new routes, not relaunched routes. 

JetBlue has also announced that it will relaunch service to a pair of airports in Puerto Rico beginning early next month, with relaunched flights both to Aguadilla’s Rafael Hernández Airport and Ponce’s Mercedita International Airport. 

Those relaunches come ahead of Puerto Rico’s planned reopening for tourism on July 15.

JetBlue has not yet announced where else it will be relaunching flights in the Caribbean. 

— CJ