DOT fines JetBlue for chronic flight delays

• $1 million is going to JetBlue customers affected by the chronic delays, or who will be affected by such delays in the next year, DOT said in a statement. Half goes directly to the U.S. Treasury.
• DOT added that it has active investigations into other airlines for "unrealistic flight schedules."

Catch up quick: This could be one of the last major actions of Pete Buttigieg's DOT, which has worked to develop a pro-consumer reputation, before President-elect Trump takes office later this month.

• "Illegal chronic flight delays make flying unreliable for travelers. Today's action puts the entire airline industry on notice that we expect their flight schedules to reflect reality," Buttigieg said in the DOT statement.

By the numbers: DOT found that JetBlue operated four chronically delayed flights at least 145 times between June 2022 through November 2023.

• DOT reports that each flight was chronically delayed for at least five straight months in a row, saying that the department has previously warned JetBlue about the chronic delays on its flight between John F. Kennedy International Airport and Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina.
• DOT emphasized that its rules prohibit airlines from "promising unrealistic schedules that do not reflect actual flight departure and arrival times." Under DOT rules, a flight is considered chronically delayed if it is flown at least 10 times per month and arrives more than 30 minutes late more than half of the time.
• JetBlue ranked 9th (out of 10 airlines) for on-time arrivals between January 2024 and September 2024, according to a Department of Transportation report. The caveat there is that some delays are outside airlines' control due to factors like weather. JetBlue is based in the Northeast, which tends to suffer from weather delays and extraordinarily busy airspace.

What they're saying: In a statement to Axios, Derek Dombrowski, director of communications at JetBlue, said that the company is complying with the penalty, but that "accountability for reliable air travel equally lies with the U.S. government, which operates our nation's air traffic control system."

• Dombrowski said that over the past two years, JetBlue has invested tens of millions of dollars to reduce flight delays.
• "Through these efforts, we have seen significant operational improvements in 2024," including better on-time performance during the peak summer travel season, he said.
• "We urge the incoming administration to prioritize modernizing outdated ATC technology and addressing chronic air traffic controller staffing shortages to reduce ATC delays that affect millions of air travelers each year," he added.