Spirit Airlines ceased operations at 3 a.m. on May 2, 2026. Two days later, JetBlue announced it would add 11 new routes from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, its growing South Florida base, to fill the sudden void.

The list is straightforward: Baltimore (BWI) 3x daily from July 9, Charlotte (CLT) 3x daily from July 9, Chicago O’Hare (ORD) 2x daily from July 9, Detroit (DTW) 2x daily from July 9, Houston (IAH) 3x daily from July 9, Nashville (BNA) 3x daily from July 9, Ponce, Puerto Rico (PSE) daily from July 9, Barranquilla, Colombia (BAQ) daily from October 1, Cali, Colombia (CLO) daily from October 15, Columbus (CMH) daily from November 2, and Indianapolis (IND) daily from November 2. Six of these airports are entirely new for JetBlue.

This isn’t incremental growth. It’s the largest sudden route dump by a major U.S. carrier in years, pushing JetBlue toward 130 daily departures from FLL this summer — 75% more than last year. The airline is leveraging existing crews and gates rather than scrambling. Smart, if slightly opportunistic.

The Caribbean Award Availability Windfall

Here’s where it gets interesting for those of us who actually redeem points instead of paying Spirit’s old bare-bones fares. JetBlue’s TrueBlue program already offered decent availability on Caribbean routes from the Northeast. Now, with a beefed-up FLL hub feeding connections to Aruba, Grand Cayman, St. Maarten, Puerto Rico, and beyond, award space is opening up in ways it never did under Spirit’s ultra-low-cost regime.

Spirit’s old pricing was cheap in theory, miserable in practice. No seats assigned, no real premium product, and bag fees that turned “$29 fare” into a $100+ experience. JetBlue’s Core fares include a seat and free carry-on. Their award redemptions on these new feeder routes are already showing strong availability through the fall, especially midweek. Points travelers connecting from the Midwest or Northeast suddenly have viable South Florida gateways without the old Spirit roulette.

Don’t expect fire-sale cash fares forever — the market will adjust. But the initial surge in seats has already loosened award inventory on downstream Caribbean flights that were previously capacity-constrained.

Aircraft Strategy and the Mint Question

JetBlue isn’t deploying its Airbus A321s with the Mint lie-flat cabin on these new short-haul routes. Mint remains reserved for transcontinental runs from FLL to LAX, SFO, LAS, and PHX, plus select longer Caribbean and Latin America flights from the Northeast.

Expect a heavy dose of the A320 family on the new FLL additions — efficient for 2-3 hour hops to Ponce, Barranquilla, or Detroit. The seats are still leather, the legroom respectable by modern standards, and the free Wi-Fi and satellite TV beat Spirit’s nothingburger approach. It’s not a flat bed to Antigua, but it’s a noticeable upgrade when connecting from Chicago or Baltimore into a Caribbean itinerary.

The real play is the network effect. More flights into FLL mean more feed for JetBlue’s existing Caribbean schedule. That translates to better odds when searching for TrueBlue awards to SJU, STT, SXM, or AUA in even the shoulder months.

Spirit’s collapse was predictable after two bankruptcies and ballooning fuel costs. The surprise is how cleanly JetBlue pounced. No long regulatory review, no half-measures. Just 27 additional flights and a new hub footprint almost overnight.

Opinion: This is the best thing to happen to premium redemption availability out of South Florida in a decade. The old ultra-low-cost model kept real premium capacity artificially low because nobody was paying for it. JetBlue’s model, while not giveaways, actually supports a decent hard product and, crucially for us, award space that moves.

Book your exploratory awards now. Search TrueBlue for FLL connections to your favorite Caribbean spot in July through October before load factors normalize. Focus on midweek travel. Have a backup date or two. The surge won’t last forever, but the expanded hub likely will.

Action item: Log into your TrueBlue account today and start mapping FLL connections to at least three Caribbean destinations you’ve been eyeing. Set alerts for July–September travel. The inventory is there right now — don’t let it slip away while everyone else is still complaining about their stranded Spirit tickets.