Farewell — and good riddance? JetBlue retires its smallest, most outdated plane
JetBlue customers can rejoice — maybe with a dash of nostalgia. The airline just bid farewell to its smallest, most outdated planes.
With a short flight Tuesday from New York to Boston, the carrier officially marked the retirement of its Embraer 190, the 100-seat regional jet that had been a staple of its East Coast service for two decades.
It's the first aircraft JetBlue has fully phased out in its quarter-century of flying.
It was also a time machine, of sorts. Passengers who boarded got an instant throwback to the 2000s, with legacy screens at every seat. On board Tuesday's flight to document the aircraft's retirement, I could almost hear the early-century ESPN theme music that would've been blaring through my headphones during any JetBlue flight of the late 2000s.
But in 2025, the E190 cabin no longer evoked the "cheap chic" vibe that defined JetBlue's rise at the turn of the century — or the modern aesthetic found on board its newer planes.
A 20-year run for JetBlue's smallest aircraft
JetBlue launched service on the E190 20 years ago, becoming the first airline to fly the Brazilian plane-maker's then-new aircraft and, in the process, debuting perhaps the best economy experience offered by any U.S. airline on a regional jet.
The aircraft also became a linchpin of JetBlue's network.
Six years ago, the carrier operated more than 120,000 flights with the jet, according to data from aviation analytics firm Cirium — even as JetBlue received newer, far more modern planes with touchscreens and lie-flat seats.
Last year, JetBlue executives confirmed the summer of 2025 would mark the end of the E190's run.
And the official end came Tuesday — but not without a little sentimentality.
Crew members from the flight deck and cabin signed a banner commemorating the end of a plane that carried millions of passengers over nearly two decades — especially in and out of JetBlue's Boston Logan International Airport (BOS) hub, where leaders say it was integral to unlocking new destinations for the airline.
"The E190 gave us something incredible: the ability to grow with flexibility and fresh destinations," CEO Joanna Geraghty said, speaking Tuesday in New York. "It gave us Boston."
JetBlue E190 retirement flight
Boston, therefore, marked a fitting final destination for the plane, which filled up with JetBlue dignitaries for the final, aptly numbered Flight 190 from John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK).
"A really special flight," said Capt. Warren Christie, JetBlue's chief operating officer, who piloted Tuesday's flight — celebrating the retirement of both the aircraft and his own flying career.
Flight B6 190 offered plenty of reminders of why JetBlue is moving on from this jet, from the aging entertainment systems to past-their-prime seats and onboard Wi-Fi that didn't work during the flight.
There was also the matter of the overhead bins, smaller than on other JetBlue aircraft: "We're going to have a lot of gate checks," I heard one agent say with practice (and, I detected, a hint of nostalgia).
Still, it was a historic moment. And JetBlue celebrated with commemorative tokens at every seat. Passengers responded in kind with applause — both at takeoff and at landing, which came after just over a half-hour of flying time on a blue-sky day.
On the ground in New England, JetBlue staffers and many passengers (this one included) had the chance to step outside the aircraft, pick up a permanent marker and sign the aircraft fuselage.
Looming in the background, one gate over: a JetBlue Airbus A220, the far more modern and fuel-efficient 140-seat aircraft that the carrier sees as the E190's worthy successor.
"It is such a better customer experience than the 190," JetBlue President Marty St. George said of the A220 at Logan on Tuesday. "Not that the 190 was bad. We went from good to really, really, really good. So it's only going to be better for our customers."
JetBlue will continue to complement the A220 with its larger A320 and A321 variant planes, including its long-haul-capable aircraft that are equipped with the airline's latest-generation Mint Suites up front.
Planes that don't have Mint today will soon be in line to get outfitted with the carrier's all-new domestic first-class recliners starting in 2026.
This E190, meanwhile, will be headed to the desert of Arizona on Wednesday.
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