JetBlue Adds Direct Routes to Mexico City and Quito, Ecuador

U.S. low-cost carrier JetBlue Airways has announced that it will launch daily non-stop flights to Mexico City and Quito, Ecuador, from Fort Lauderdale in Florida.

These new routes to Latin American destinations come shortly after JetBlue introduced direct charter flights from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport to the Cuban capital of Havana.

The introduction of flights to the Mexican and Ecuadorian capitals shows how the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL) is becoming to be a major hub for JetBlue’s South American destinations.

JetBlue currently offers nonstop service to 37 destinations, with up to 85 daily flights from Fort Lauderdale.

Ecuador’s popular tourist hot spots are what prompted the carrier to add routes to the Andean country.  The Amazon rainforest, home to wide varieties of animal species, and the intriguing Galapagos Islands are particularly popular with U.S. citizens. Some of the beaches and fishing towns along the Pacific coast also draw large numbers of foreign tourists.

Apart from Quito, JetBlue also offers services to South American cities like Lima, Peru; and Bogota, Cartagena and Medellin in Colombia.

Service to Ecuador is expected to commence in the first quarter of 2016, while the flights to Mexico City will begin in October this year.

The Fort Lauderdale-to-Quito route will operate with 150-seat Airbus A320 aircraft. Ecuadorian carrier Tame also reportedly runs several flights on this route.

JetBlue, it seems, is the U.S. carrier offering the most flights to destinations across Latin America and the Caribbean, with the company operating more than 35 routes to the region.

The carrier is offering an introductory fare of $99 available for one-way travel from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood or from Orlando to Mexico City.

“We’re proud to continue to grow our Fort Lauderdale focus city, a major gateway to the Caribbean and Latin America,” said Dave Clark, JetBlue’s vice president network planning. “Demand for travel to Ecuador has been growing strongly, especially after extensive promotional efforts by the country’s officials.”