US low-fare carrier JetBlue Airways is to further reinforce its position as the largest scheduled carrier by seat capacity at San Juan’s Luis Munoz Marin International Airport in Puerto Rico by introducing a new link to Chicago, the 17th non-stop destination it will serve from the focus city and the eleventh within continental USA. The new daily link to Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport will commence from November 20, 2013 and reservations are due to open soon.

JetBlue made its debut at San Juan in May 2002 and is now the largest carrier in Puerto Rico, with more flights to and from the Island than any other airline. It now operates to 14 non-stop destinations from San Juan: Boston, Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood, Hartford, Jacksonville, New York JFK, Newark, Orlando, Tampa, Washington D.C. (Reagan National) and West Palm Beach within the US and Santo Domingo, St. Maarten, St. Thomas, and St. Croix in the Caribbean. It will also begin flights to Punta Cana and Santiago, Dominican Republic from May 2013.

The announcement of the new Chicago service comes at an important time for San Juan’s Luis Munoz Marin International Airport following its recent privatisation. This week the process cleared its final hurdle after the Federal Aviation Administration issued a Part 139 Operating Certificate to new administrator, Aerostar Airport Holdings LLC and JetBlue says it has been pleased with the process executed by Puerto Rico’s previous administration of Governor Luis Fortuno.

“As the largest carrier in Puerto Rico, we are very pleased to be partnering with Aerostar at Luis Munoz Marin International Airport in San Juan,” said Dave Barger, President and Chief Executive Officer, JetBlue. “We are confident Aerostar will be great stewards of the public trust and provide a great solution for both the airlines serving San Juan and the people of Puerto Rico.”

According to JetBlue, the privatisation will allow it to continue serving the Puerto Rico community “with great service and competitive fares, while expanding its network and offerings”. The carrier has grown its operations on a year-on-year basis since its debut in 2002. In 2007, after five years of operation, the carrier had just a 5.6 per cent share of capacity with around 400,000 seats from San Juan. However, this had grown to 480,000 in 2008, moving it to the number three position with a 7.8 per cent share and then almost doubled to over 835,000 seats in 2009, increasing its market share to 15.2 per cent.

By 2010, JetBlue had become the second largest carrier at San Juan with over 860,000 seats from Luis Munoz Marin International Airport, a 15.8 per cent share, a position it also held in 2011 when it offered over one million seats for the first time. A continued network growth meant JetBlue over took American Airlines as the largest carrier at San Juan last year offering over 1.6 million seats, a 29.7 per cent share. Based on existing loaded schedules the carrier will offer a similar number of seats through this year.

JetBlue will compete directly with US majors American Airlines and United Airlines on the San Juan – Chicago route. Both have served the market for a long period time. American Airlines had served the route in the early 1980s but after a four and a half year hiatus returned in October 1986 and has flown continuously since then with up to three rotations per day. It currently offers a daily frequency using a Boeing 737-800. United entered the market in October 1992 and currently offers a twice weekly service using a 757-200. In 2012 an estimated 204,000 bi-directional O&D passengers travelled between Chicago O’Hare and San Juan, down 18.2 per cent on the previous year as capacity was reduced 36.0 per cent.