JetBlue hit with $2 million positive over continual flight delays

Investing.com — JetBlue Airways (NASDAQ:JBLU) Corp. has been penalized with a $2 million positive by the US Transportation Division. The airline was fined for constantly delaying some flights and setting unrealistic schedules, marking a first-of-its type enforcement motion by the division.

The positive was imposed in the course of the ultimate days of the Biden administration, which has been stern in its stance in opposition to airways concerning shopper safety points. The administration’s initiatives have included rules that mandate automated refunds when flights are considerably delayed or canceled, guidelines aimed toward safeguarding wheelchair customers, and different enforcement actions addressing points equivalent to civil rights violations.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg criticized continual flight delays as a serious inconvenience for vacationers in a information launch on Friday. The motion in opposition to JetBlue demonstrates to the business that the division expects flight schedules to be sensible.

In keeping with the Transportation Division, promising clients schedules that don’t precisely signify true departure and arrival occasions is an unfair and misleading enterprise apply. It’s because it allows airways to draw extra enterprise by deceptive clients. US guidelines categorize a “chronically delayed flight” as one which arrives greater than half-hour late greater than 50% of the time and is flown no less than 10 occasions a month.

The US authorities found that JetBlue operated no less than 4 such flights no less than 145 occasions from June 2022 to November 2023, impacting 1000’s of passengers. This included a route between John F. Kennedy Worldwide Airport in New York and Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina. The Bureau of Transportation Statistics estimates that the airline was answerable for over 70% of the disruptions.

JetBlue said on Friday that it has invested tens of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} over the previous two years to attenuate flight delays, particularly these associated to air-traffic management points. Whereas the corporate agreed to a settlement with the division concerning the 4 flights in query, it argued that the duty for dependable air journey also needs to be shared by the US authorities, which operates the nation’s air visitors management system.

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