What's New with JetBlue - March 21

New Routes, New Ways to Give Back

While it is great news that JetBlue now offers flights to Detroit, what is really special is how they made an impact on the community as they began to touch down for the first time. Partnering with the nonprofit First Book, JetBlue went to one of the lowest performing schools in Michigan and donated over 1,000 books, 30 laptops, and an afternoon of time by its pilots and employees to help give children a better shot to improve their education and lives. A great video and a great gesture.

Speaking of new cities, word on the street is that JetBlue will start air service to Albany in 2015. The carrier already flies to NYC, Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Westchester, and Newburgh. The addition of Albany would strengthen the grip of JetBlue on it's home state state of NY and increase its regional business quite a bit. 

Another big change on the horizon is related to JetBlue's LiveTV offering, which currently shows 36 channels of free TV on every flight. Currently LiveTV is owned as a subsidiary of JetBlue, but soon will be sold off to Thales Company, a French defense group, for $400 million. LiveTV will still offer the same services on JetBlue flights as it currently does after the sale.

Finally, JetBlue CEO Dave Barger hinted at transatlantic flights being a possibility for JetBlue in the future, but says they are at least three years off. JetBlue is dreaming big, but not rushing into saturated markets.