JetBlue, headquartered in Long Island City, is evaluating whether to move its corporate offices out of Queens (Photo: Creative Commons)
March 17, 2021 By Allie Griffin
JetBlue is considering pulling its headquarters from Long Island City, where it’s been for roughly a decade, according to a new report.
The airline, which brands itself as “New York’s Hometown Airline,” has been headquartered in Queens since its founding in 1999.
JetBlue, however, may move jobs out of its Long Island City headquarters, located at 27-01 Queens Plaza North, to Florida, according to an internal memo obtained by the New York Post.
The company wrote in a March 11 memo to staffers that it is eyeing alternative options ahead of July 2023 when its lease in Long Island City is up, the Post reported.
Those options including sending corporate staff to the sunshine state, where the airline has a training center in Orlando and another headquarters in Fort Lauderdale–or moving into a different borough, according to the article.
Still, JetBlue didn’t rule out staying in Long Island City, where more than 1,300 employees are based.
JetBlue airplane (JetBlue)
“We are exploring a number of paths, including staying in Long Island City, moving to another space in New York City, and/or shifting a to-be-determined number of [headquarter] roles to existing support centers in Florida,” the memo said, according to the Post.
The company wrote that it has more leasing options, as vacancies have increased due to the pandemic and the role of a physical office will evolve in “a hybrid work environment.”
JetBlue has taken a financial hit from COVID-19, as the number of people who have traveled over the past year has plummeted. The potential to cut costs is a big factor in its lease decisions.
The airline said it plans to make a final decision on its headquarters later this year, according to the memo cited by the Post.
Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer said that it would be a big loss for the borough if JetBlue were to move, although he noted that when it came to Long Island City 10 years ago the company was also considering a move to Florida. It had been in Kew Gardens prior to Long Island City.
“The company has gone through this before and they choose Long Island City so I am hoping they do so again,” he said. “They bring a lot of vitality to the area and I know they are proud of their Queens connection.”
Van Bramer did not say whether the city should offer tax incentives to keep the airline here, but noted it was in the borough’s interest to have them here.
“I think the city needs to keep them here,” he said. “We have to find out what they are looking for and go from there.”
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19 Comments
JetBlue, if you’re going to move out of NYC, save a seat for deBlasio. He’s already checked out and chomping at the bit for the earliest opportunity to leave the city as fast and furious as possible.
lets see what they 3 loud mouths have to say about this. JVB AOC & MG. but then again they like to keep their constituents ignorant and poor so that they will always vote for them.
Ignorant and poor is the Republican claim to fame, just checkout the long time Republican strongholds of Mississippi, Alabama, Kentucky, West Virginia, Arkansas and Tennessee. All last in wages and education and first in poverty and incarceration. Just google poorest US States, US States by per casita income and see the results.,
now can you pull me the stats for crime in the states that you mentioned?
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.usatoday.com/amp/40968963 Kentucky is the only one that didn’t make the 10 worst.
All the major cities of these states are liberal run cities and are the most violent and have the hugest crime rates. Look up Jackson and Montgomery. Stats never lie, but there’s always a reason why.
Look up crime in rural America. Mississippi Delta and Appalachia have more crime then most cities. Conservative run cities like Jacksonville, FL, Fort Worth, Tulsa and Oklahoma City have way higher crime then Liberal cities of Seattle, Portland, OR, Boston and NYC. Did you even read the article? Alaska is worst
Companies have moved to and from NYC ever since there was a NYC.
What do you expect criminals, mentally ill, graffiti, dirty street, declining quality if life. Amazon HQ2 would have brought contruction, infrastructure inprovements, jobs and other business es to the LIC and NYC. Our politicians blew it.
The homeless shelters/mentally ill would be there even if Amazon was built.
I’m pretty sure your theory has been disproven numerous times but you’re probably not interested in the truth.
The March 11 internal memo to staffers intended to be made public for concessions during any talks and or negotiations regarding future lease terms. Your welcome.
JVB is scheming with housing developers about this real estate as we speak.
Some states are more business friendly than others, simple as that. Businesses don’t require as much of a physical presence in NYC as they once did. As Bill Clinton once said, “It’s the economy, stupid.”
Retirees of means often flee the city when they can, so do jobs. Especially as quality of life diminishes.
The new Detroit- Retirees do not flee the city, just come to the Berkley Towers and check for yourself. North Eastern States and West Coast States (All Blue States) have much higher salaries than red states coupled with much higher real estate prices. Retires arrive in these other states you mention ( many which are RTW) with huge real estate gains, higher social security benefits from higher salaries
and higher savings and usually a pension or two which is unheard of in RTW states. In the area of North Carolina I have an retirement home there are whole communities called little NJ, little NY, little Massachusetts and little Connecticut, never ever little Arizona or any other red state.
its the economy stupid, was actually said by james carville
Right, Bill Clinton said “this cigar tastes funny”.
Noted. It’s easy to mix up the dummy and the ventriloquist sometimes.
Businesses require fewer employees to be in the office and there’s little incentive for a business like this to remain in a NE urban city when an operation in Florida would be so much cheaper to operate.