JetBlue lands in the Twin Cities today
The low-cost airline JetBlue started serving the Twin Cities Thursday.
Airport commission spokeswoman Melissa Scovronski said the commission has been wooing the New York-based carrier for at least a decade.
"It's been a long courtship, and we're very excited," she said. "They have three daily flights to Boston and we're hoping for more in the future."
Those flights are nonstop. JetBlue will operate out of Terminal 2.
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The airline said companies such as Boston Scientific and Medtronic strongly encouraged the carrier to fly the Twin Cities-Boston route.
"We've gotten a lot of support from large corporate accounts who had really wanted additional service between Boston and Minneapolis," said JetBlue executive vice president Marty St. George. "Boston Scientific, Medtronic, a couple of other companies came to us and said, 'Listen, we would like to have more competition on this route.'"
JetBlue said it hopes to serve other destinations nonstop from the Twin Cities. The most likely candidates would be Ft. Lauderdale and Orlando.
JetBlue does not charge for carry-on bags but does charge for checked bags.
With the Twin Cities now served by all major domestic carriers, Scovronski said the commission will focus on attracting more international airlines.