As Members of Congress representing Queens, New York, we write regarding the July 2023 expiration of JetBlue Airway’s lease in Long Island City, Queens, and recent reports that JetBlue is considering moving office locations and employees out of New York and to Florida.
As “New York’s Hometown Airline,” JetBlue’s corporate headquarters have had a mutually beneficial relationship with Queens since the company’s founding in 1998, and with Long Island City since 2012. In the spirit of that long-standing relationship, we strongly urge you to consider keeping JetBlue and its employees in Queens.
We believe that New York and your current location offer obvious advantages to JetBlue and to our community. New York City is the top tourist and travel destination in the United States, and the current location of JetBlue’s headquarters stands in affirmation of that fact. JetBlue’s historical presence in New York City has enabled it to be a vital part of our city’s economic success. JetBlue serves more daily seats between New York City and Upstate New York than any other airline and has helped grow the regional economy with competitive fares. Further, a vast majority of JetBlue’s operations are centered in the northeast corridor, including the New York area. Even the Brewster Building that JetBlue currently leases has a rich aviation history, as the historical construction site of the first monoplane fighter airplane that the U.S. Navy used in World War II.