The 11 JetBlue Airbus A320s that still have classic interiors

It is 25 years since JetBlue first launched operations in February 2000. Starting with just two aircraft, its initial flights from New York JFK were to Buffalo and Fort Lauderdale, adding Tampa the following month.

Its business model as a low-cost carrier (LCC) that differentiated itself with its amenities, such as TVs at every seat with free DirecTV and SiriusXM, was immediately popular and the airline grew at a brisk (and profitable) pace in its early years.

A key to its success, like any other LCC, was standardizing its early fleet on a single aircraft type. For JetBlue, this was the Airbus A320.

It had eight of the type in its fleet at the end of its first year, and just seven years after launch it was already celebrating the delivery of its 100th example. But did you know that JetBlue still flies some of these original A320s? Let’s take a closer look at the JetBlue A320 Classic.

Why did JetBlue choose the A320?

A good place to start is to understand why JetBlue chose the A320 in the first place. After all, other leading LCCs like SouthWest Airlines and Ryanair were committed Boeing customers. But ironically, it was Southwest that was partly responsible for ultimately steering JetBlue towards the A320.

JetBlue founder David Neeleman had spent a short time on the executive team at Southwest after it acquired his charter airline, Morris Air, back in 1993. So he had some insight into what Dallas-based LCC was paying for its 737s.

The story goes that when JetBlue was initially founded in 1998, he demanded the same pricing for his new airline, but Boeing was unwilling to provide a small startup with the same preferential deals as its largest customer and refused. The rest is history.

In reality, it is likely to be a bit more complex than that. Airbus was competing very aggressively on cost as it looked to make further inroads into the US market and was offering attractive sale-and-leaseback packages.

But likely the most attractive feature was it offered more near-term delivery slots versus the 737NG models, which was critical to JetBlue’s strategy of rapid expansion.

However, David Barger, who would later become JetBlue CEO in 2007, attributed Boeing’s failure to win JetBlue's business to "arrogance", saying:

"This airline was going to be a Boeing airline, I kid you not. The deal was literally being closed, but to them, we were just a small ticket order. Then Airbus came in and showed they really wanted the business. They were way more competitive on cost, and put together plans to support our business launch. Better partner, better product, it was a no-brainer."

The JetBlue fleet in 2025

Since those early days, JetBlue has grown to become a large US airline serving over 100 destinations across 34 different countries. That reach obviously requires a substantial and diverse fleet, and JetBlue operations today comprise nearly 300 aircraft.

JetBlue is set to return to an all-Airbus fleet by the end of this year as the E190s are phased out and replaced with the new A220 arrivals.

Those, along with the continued delivery of the A321neos, were expected to also lead to the steady retirement of the aging A320s as JetBlue continues to up-gauge its fleet.

However, there have been some unexpected twists in those plans. First, issues with the Pratt & Whitney engines of incoming models caused delivery delays.

Then in the middle of last year, JetBlue announced that it would defer the airline’s 44 A321neo deliveries scheduled between 2025 and 2029 to 2030 and beyond.

This will postpone $3 billion in capital expenditures, reflecting the airline’s need to address financial challenges after its failed merger attempt with Spirit Airlines

The two operational A320 versions

The net result of the delays and deferments is that JetBlue will be looking to utilize its legacy A320 fleet for longer than planned, very likely to the end of the decade or more.

For the most part, this is not a problem, as the average age of the A320s is still under 20 years, and the younger members of the fleet have barely surpassed a decade of usage.

However, JetBlue made the decision a few years ago to conduct an extensive retrofit of its A320 fleet, to bring it more in line with the newer A321s.

This retrofit program started in 2018, and as part of it, the very oldest A320s, which were the first aircraft delivered to the fledgling airline in 2000-01, were excluded as they were instead designated for retirement.

As these older A320s are brought out of retirement to cover the capacity gap, JetBlue finds itself with two operations versions of its A320 fleet:

• A320 Classic: The original A320 layout (discussed in more detail below), with the aircraft having not undergone any refurbishment. This sub-fleet consists of 11 of the 130 A320 fleet.
• A320 Restyled: The bulk of the A320 fleet has undergone the retrofit. These aircraft have updated technology, but with more seats in the aircraft, have reduced space.

The A320 Classic vs Restyled

The 11 A320 Classics that will remain operational are listed in the table below and include N503JB 'Bluebird,' the very first aircraft to ply the skies in JetBlue colors.

While there has been some discussion as to whether these aircraft will also be given a retrofit, as of the time of writing, they have and JetBlue still refers to them separately as “A320 Classic” on its website.

The Classics differ from the Restyled versions in several material ways:

The Classics have fewer seats

The Classics have retained the original A320 configuration of 150 seats in 25 rows, made up of 108 Economy 'Core' seats (18 rows) and 42 Economy 'Even More Space' seats (7 rows).

For the Restyled version, JetBlue has moved the aft lavatories and adjusted the galley to add two additional rows of seats, taking the total seat count up to 162 with the addition of 12 'Core' seats.

The Classics have more space

While the adjustments at the rear of the Restyled versions freed up some space, the 'Core' seats have a reduced seat pitch of 32” compared to the 34” on the Classic version, and the 'Even More Space' seat pitch is reduced to 35” compared to the 37” on the Classic version.

That is a noticeable difference for passengers over 6 feet when on a 5-hour transcontinental flight. However, even with these changes, JetBlue still offers the highest average seat pitch in the US across its fleet.

The Restyled versions have big tech upgrades

The most notable difference in the Restyled versions is the tech upgrades. The Classics have 5.6" seat-back screens with a 25-year-old SiriusXM IFE system that includes 36 channels and DirecTV, satellite radio, and three looping movie channels.

By contrast, the Restyled versions have much larger 10.1" seat-back screens with a Thales AVANT IFE system, with content including DirecTV channels, movies on demand, premium content from channels like HBO and Showtime, a range of games, and pairing capabilities with personal devices. They also have universal AC and USB-A sockets available to charge those devices, as well as upgraded free WiFi.

What is the future of the A320 Classics?

As noted above, the delivery delays and deferments of the A321s are likely to see the A320 Classics pressed into service until the end of the decade.

It is unlikely that JetBlue will seek to pull its deliveries forward again, and even if it wanted to, those near-term delivery slots are highly sought after and Airbus has likely already sold them on to other airlines eager to get their A321s sooner.

However, the incoming A220s are configured with 140 seats (110 Core and 30 Even More Space), only 10 seats shy of the A320 Classics, and could potentially replace some of the oldest A320s.

A220 deliveries to date have been at less than half the target rate that Airbus has set itself, but recent upgrades at the Mirabel and Mobile plants will increase the pace of production.

JetBlue received 18 examples last year, a pace that suggests that it will have all A220 aircraft delivered by the end of 2027. With 40 of those arriving after the E190s are fully replaced, we may yet see the A320 Classics flying off into the sunset before the decade is out.