JetBlue announces it will stop flights from Kansas City International Airport. Here’s why

Two years after JetBlue announced its opening at Kansas City International Airport, the airline left the city to cut costs.

Effective June 13, JetBlue will no longer fly from Kansas City and some international destinations including Bogota, Colombia, Quito, Ecuador, and Lima, Peru.

“These markets are unprofitable and the time we spend on our aircraft can be better spent elsewhere,” Dave Jehn, the airline’s vice president of network planning, said in a statement to employees.

This is the first airline to depart KCI since the new terminal opens in February 2023.

The cuts come after a federal judge in January rejected the merger between JetBlue and Spirit Airlines, which the airlines had agreed to in July 2022.

Following the judge’s decision, the two airlines abandoned their merger plans and JetBlue paid Spirit $69 million as part of the agreement.

According to the Associated Press, JetBlue has lost more than $2 billion since 2019, its last profitable year.

In its statement to employees, the airline said it was focusing on its most important routes, namely East Coast customers, Caribbean travel and long-haul domestic flights.

In April 2021, the airline announced that it would offer nonstop service from KCI to New York-JFK International Airport and Boston Logan International Airport starting March 27, 2022.

The flights were operated on Airbus A220 aircraft, which were equipped with broadband internet, on-board snacks and drinks, and free DirectTV, a statement said.

The New York-based airline is also canceling several domestic routes, including:

• From Los Angeles to Seattle, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Miami and Cancun.

• From Fort Lauderdale, Florida to Atlanta; Austin, Texas; Nashville; New Orleans and Salt Lake City

• From New York to Detroit

• From Orlando to Salt Lake City