JetBlue’s eight out of nine new FLL routes overlap with Spirit Airlines' routes
Previously, Frontier Airlines and United Airlines unveiled new routes and frequencies that have also been served by Spirit Airlines.
Frontier Airlines, United Airlines, and now, JetBlue have announced new routes that have been served by Spirit Airlines, with the latter announcing nine new or returning routes from Fort Lauderdale Hollywood International Airport (FLL).
JetBlue’s September 10, 2025, announcement read that with the latest expansion, namely the addition of nine new routes and additional capacity on nine others, it would be cementing its position as FLL’s leading airline with up to 113 daily departures during the upcoming winter season.
Cirium’s Diio Mi showed that in September 2025, JetBlue has scheduled 339 weekly one-way departures from FLL, compared to Spirit Airlines’ 550 scheduled takeoffs per week. The current schedules showed that in December 2025, JetBlue’s 540 weekly departures still lag behind Spirit Airlines’ 634 one-way weekly takeoffs from the airport in Florida.
This is more likely than not to change as JetBlue files its latest network additions.
Out of JetBlue’s nine new routes, eight directly overlap with Spirit Airlines’ scheduled flights in December 2025. Some of the ‘new’ connections had been served by the airline in the past.
JetBlue ended service to six out of the nine ‘new’ routes between 2021 and 2024. Some of the April 30, 2022, cuts, for example, were made in order to stabilize the airline’s recovery amidst a post-pandemic travel boom, according to an internal memo by Joanna Geraghty, the then-President and Chief Operating Officer (COO) of JetBlue, according to CNBC.
Geraghty is JetBlue’s current Chief Executive Officer (CEO).
Nevertheless, while JetBlue had trimmed its schedule at FLL, Spirit Airlines continued to serve all of the destinations listed above, except for flights to GCM. The airline announced the route on August 5, 2025, saying that it will “begin the only nonstop flights between” FLL and GCM on December 4, 2025, meaning that JetBlue and Spirit Airlines could ruin each other’s route launch parties at FLL.
(Spirit Airlines operates from FLL’s Terminal 1, while JetBlue is present at Terminal 3 at the airport.)
JetBlue also unveiled that it would add additional weekly departures on another nine routes from FLL, with the extra frequencies beginning either in November or December 2025. Per Cirium’s Diio Mi, Spirit Airlines has scheduled flights on all nine during the latter month, including some with multiple daily departures.
While correlation does not necessarily mean causation, JetBlue is not the only airline that has announced new routes that directly overlap with Spirit Airlines’ planned and/or current network.
On September 5, 2025, Frontier Airlines unveiled additional routes from a variety of airports, including four from Orlando International Airport (MCO). Three out of four overlap Spirit Airlines’ planned departures to Guatemala City La Aurora International Airport (GUA), El Salvador International Airport (SAL), and SAP.
A day earlier, United Airlines unveiled new routes and additional frequencies. Did it specifically target Spirit Airlines?
Patrick Quayle, the Senior Vice President of Global Network Planning and Alliances at United Airlines, said that Spirit Airlines "going out of business will be incredibly disruptive, so we're adding these flights to give their customers other options if they want or need them.”
Rytis Beresnevicius
The trio’s statements came not even two weeks after Spirit Airlines declared that it would enter its second Chapter 11 bankruptcy case in a year’s time on August 29, 2025. Dave Davis, the President and CEO of the low-cost carrier, said that while its previous court-protected restructuring process exclusively targeted reducing the company’s “funded debt and raising equity capital, it has become clear that there is much more work to be done and many more tools are available to best position Spirit for the future.”
Spirit Airlines’ previous Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings lasted between November 18, 2024, and March 12, 2025.
According to the airline’s Q2 2025 financial release, it ended the three-month period with a $245.8 million net loss and $407.5 million of cash and cash equivalents, while shareholders’ equity stood at $479.4 million.
However, Spirit Airlines’ second Chapter 11 bankruptcy announcement indicated that AerCap, which holds the airline’s Airbus A320neo family aircraft delivery slots and has leased aircraft to the carrier, asserted that “events of default had occurred” under the existing and future lease agreements.
The company disagreed, saying that it was currently in discussions with AerCap.
