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JetBlue's first A321neo takes to the skies

Ethan Steinberg
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Ethan Steinberg has been a frequent flier for as long as he can remember. He went from studying abroad in Paris to moving to Shanghai after graduating college, where he covered all things travel in the Asia-Pacific region for TPG.
Sept. 07, 2019
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3 min read
JetBlue A321neo
JetBlue's first A321neo takes to the skies
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JetBlue is in the midst of a transformative period that will see the airline take delivery of longer range, next generation aircraft and expand its international service, most notably when it launches flights to London in 2021. The airline currently has 85 Airbus A321neo aircraft on order, as well as 13 of the even longer range A321XLRs.

At the end of June, JetBlue took delivery of its first Airbus A321neo from the Airbus factory in Hamburg. The plane, which has the tail number N2002J and is named in honor of JetBlue founder David Neeleman, has sat mostly idle since its delivery, but it has now begun flying flights as of the end of August.

The airplane is based out of New York (JFK), but it's currently being used on a seemingly random set of domestic and Caribbean routes. In the last week, it's been spotted in Boston (BOS), Denver (DEN), Aruba (AUA) and more according to data from flightradar24.com. These are likely test flights, as the flight numbers (in the 6000s) are not normal JetBlue flight numbers.

(Image from FlightRadar24)

The first A321neo was tentatively scheduled to fly JetBlue's flight 1701 from JFK to Fort Lauderdale (FLL) on Sep. 24, along with the return flight 1202 from Fort Lauderdale to JFK. However, an A320 is now slated to operate those flights, and the aptly numbered “Flight 1” from JFK to Fort Lauderdale at 9:58am will see the first official commercial A321neo that day.

Then, beginning on Dec. 5, JetBlue will officially launch new service to Guayaquil (GYE) in Ecuador from JFK using the A321neo. This plane, and the majority of JetBlue's A321neos, will be configured with 200 Even More Space and economy seats, the same as its current fleet of A321s.

The carrier also has a number of standard A321s equipped with its lie-flat Mint business class product. These aircraft have 159 seats, including 16 Mint seats. JetBlue has promised a new reimagined Mint experience on its A321LRs when it launches service to London in 2021, but has not yet released details on the new product.

Featured image by The tail of JetBlue's first A321neo. (Courtesy of JetBlue)