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U.S. Department of Transportation

JetBlue eyes Mexico City flights, asks DOT for two routes

Ben Mutzabaugh
USA TODAY
JetBlue planes at New York's JFK airport on Nov. 27, 2013.

JetBlue has asked the U.S. Department of Transportation for the flight rights to fly two routes to Mexico City.

In a federal filing submitted Tuesday (Nov. 4), JetBlue told the DOT that it would like to add nonstop service to Mexico City from both Fort Lauderdale and Orlando.

If approved by regulators, JetBlue would begin service on the routes "in or about" June 2015. The carrier says it wants to fly two daily round-trip flights between Mexico City and Fort Lauderdale and one daily round-trip flight between Mexico City and Orlando. JetBlue would fly 150-seat Airbus A320 aircraft on both routes, according to its filing with the DOT.

Mexico City would be JetBlue's second destination in Mexico. The airline already serves Cancun, where it flies nonstop to Boston, Fort Lauderdale, New York JFK and Orlando.

The current bilateral aviation agreement that governs international flights between the United States and Mexico restricts the number of airlines that can fly on any given route between the nations.

A maximum of two U.S. carriers would be permitted to fly the routes that JetBlue has proposed, with the airline saying in its DOT application that it "understands … at least one" designation remains available on each of the routes.

No U.S. airlines currently fly nonstop to Mexico City from either Fort Lauderdale or Orlando. Among Mexican airlines, Aeromexico offers nonstop service between Orlando and Mexico City while low-cost carrier Volaris will begin Fort Lauderdale-Mexico City service next month.

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