JetBlue officially retires its smallest, most outdated aircraft

JetBlue customers can be happy about nostalgia. The airline bids farewell to the smallest, most outdated fleet of aircraft.

A short flight from New York to Boston on Tuesday, the airline officially marked the retirement of its Transporter 190, a 100-seat regional jet that has been a staple for its East Coast Services Department for two decades.

This is the first aircraft, Sapphire, completely eliminated in 25 years of flight.

This is also a time machine. Passengers boarding can immediately return to the 2000s, with traditional screens in each seat. On the flights that were recorded on Tuesday on the ship, I could hear almost the early 2000s ESPN theme music that flashed through my headphones in any JetBlue in the late 2000s.

But in 2025, the E190 cabin no longer evokes an atmosphere of “cheap fashion” that defines JetBlue’s rise at the turn of the century, or discovers modern aesthetics on its new aircraft.

JetBlue’s smallest aircraft lasts 20 years

JetBlue launched its service on the E190 20 years ago, becoming the first airline to fly the then-planned aircraft of Brazilian planners and made its debut in the process, perhaps the best economical experience any U.S. airline offers on regional jets.

The plane also became the key to the JetBlue network.

Six years ago, the airline’s aircraft ran more than 120,000 flights, according to aviation analytics company Cirium, even though JetBlue got updated, more modern aircraft with a touch screen and Lie-Flat seats.

Last year, JetBlue executives confirmed that summer 2025 will mark the end of the E190 run.

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The official ending comes Tuesday – but not without a little sense.

The crew on the flight deck and cabin signed a banner to mark the end of a plane that has carried millions of passengers in nearly two decades, especially within JetBlue’s Boston Logan International Airport (BOS) hub, which leaders said was part of the release of the agency’s new destination.

“The E190 gives us something incredible: the ability to have flexibility and fresh destinations,” CEO Joanna Geraghty said in New York. “It gives us Boston.”

JetBlue E190 Retirement Flight

So Boston marks the final destination of the plane, filled with the final of John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK), aptly named Flight 190.

“Very special flights,” said Captain Warren Christie, chief operating officer of Jet Blue, who flew Tuesday’s flights – celebrating the plane’s retirement and his own flight career.

Flight B6 190 provides a lot of reminders about why JetBlue continues to move forward from this jet, from aging entertainment system to past Prime seats and onboard Wi-Fi, is ineffective during the flight.

There is also an overhead trash issue, too small for many travelers’ bags in 2025: “We’re going to do a lot of gate checks,” I heard an agent say in practice (and I find it a hint of nostalgia).

Nevertheless, it is a time to burn history. JetBlue celebrates in every seat with commemorative tokens. Passengers responded physically with applause during takeoff and landing, after more than half an hour of flight in the blue sky.

On the ground in New England, JetBlue staff and many passengers (including this passenger) have the opportunity to step out of the plane, pick up the permanent mark and sign the airplane fuselage.

In the background, a door is imminent: a JetBlue passenger bus A220, a more modern and fuel-efficient 140-seat aircraft that operators see as the E190 worthy of successors.

“It’s a better customer experience than the 190,” JetBlue President Marty St. George said of the A220 on Tuesday. “It’s not that 190 is bad. We go from the benefits to really, really, really, really good. So, it’s just better for our customers.”

JetBlue will continue to complement its A220 with its larger A320 and A321 variants, including its long-haul aircraft, equipped with the airline’s latest generation mint kit.

Starting in 2026, today’s planes without mint will be lined up soon to be equipped with airline’s brand new domestic first-class lounge chairs.

Meanwhile, the E190 will travel to the Arizona desert on Wednesday.

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