Ahead of the summer travel season, some airlines are discontinuing select nonstop domestic flights.
According to Greg Willis, Marketing and Public Relations Manager for the Jacksonville Aviation Authority, on April 1, JetBlue discontinued its nonstop flight from Jacksonville to Ft. Lauderdale.
On April 8, Southwest Airlines discontinued their direct flight from Jacksonville to Atlanta.
Willis also said the total passengers for March at the Jacksonville International Airport was down about three percent from the same time last year.
All of this happening as other airlines make adjustments around the country.
United Airlines released a report earlier this month that noted they planned to scale back domestic flights by four percent.
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According to the Charlotte Business Journal, preliminary data shows the number of passengers declined by 7.5% at Charlotte Douglas International Airport during the first quarter of 2025.
“Speaking as a local travel agent yes, the air, the travel is down for lots of reasons, you know, because the economy, because of tariffs,” Travel Agent Scott Lara said.
“The reason that the airlines are cutting flights is because consumers are cutting back spending. People are traveling locally, doing stay vacations, maybe if you’re in Jacksonville, going to St Augustine or maybe going to Tampa or Orlando. So that’s why the airlines are cutting back on flights.”
Lara said another factor playing into the decline is because we’re seeing less foreign travelers at this time. However, he said this doesn’t mean ahead of the summer travel season consumers can’t take a nice vacation.
“There are lots of deals to be had on cruises, on inclusive resorts and lots of things,” Lara said. “Again, you have to be a very savvy consumer.”
He said this means going to a travel agent who can help you source the best prices on what you need.
News4Jax reached out to JetBlue and Southwest for comment.
We didn’t hear back from JetBlue but Southwest replied:
“We recently restructured our Atlanta service,” a spokesperson from Southwest said. “As a result, we’ve increased service to a few markets from Jacksonville including Nashville. On an overall flight count standpoint, there are no changes to the total number of flights.”
