JetBlue will begin flying one flight a day between Boston and Martha’s Vineyard this summer, using a 100-seat jet aircraft.
Service on the route is scheduled to begin June 17, and continue through September 7.
A JetBlue flight will leave Martha’s Vineyard Airport at 3:27 pm daily, arriving at Boston’s Logan Airport at 4:15 pm. A return flight leaves Boston at 5:25 pm, and arrives on the Island at 6:12 pm.
According to the airline’s website, the cost of a round trip flight ranges from $114 to $304, with the higher prices during peak holiday travel times, and the lower prices during less traveled midweek days.
JetBlue will use an Embraer 190 twin-engine jet aircraft, with 25 rows of four seats, two on each side of a center aisle. The aircraft is 119 feet long, with a wingspan of 94 feet.
The flight will compete directly with local airline Cape Air, which operates non-stop flights on the same route hourly, using 9-seat Cessna 402 twin engine propeller aircraft. A Cape Air executive said the partnership between the two airlines will continue.
“It really doesn’t affect our partnership at all,” said Trish Lorino, vice-president for marketing and public relations. “We’re glad there is added service to the Vineyard. It helps tourism. Exciting news.”
Beginning in 2010, the two airlines formed a partnership which allows travelers to book connecting Cape Air flights to Martha’s Vineyard through JetBlue and through online travel websites.
“We still have a strong partnership with them here on the Vineyard,” Ms. Lorino said. “It’s definitely competition, but people still have the opportunity to book on JetBlue. If there is no flight with JetBlue directly to the Vineyard, the second option would be to take Cape Air. We still have connectivity with JetBlue, which has worked out great for us.”
The new flight is part of an aggressive expansion by JetBlue, which now bills itself as the largest airline flying out of Logan Airport. Last year the airline, founded in 1999, began service from Boston to Nantucket. In 2012, JetBlue began service from Martha’s Vineyard to New York’s John F. Kennedy airport.
