Carrier also debuts new A320 cabins

JetBlue Airways this spring will significantly expand service at an unlikely location: Austin, Texas. Meanwhile, the airline also unveiled new interiors for the new Airbus A320s it has on order.

The airline, which currently flies from Austin to its New York JFK base three times a day and to its Boston focus city once a day, plans to add four new destinations from the Texas capital on May 1: Ft. Lauderdale and Orlando, Fla., and San Francisco and Long Beach, Calif. The carrier will operate one daily roundtrip in each of the four markets, using 100-seat Embraer 190s. At the same time, JetBlue will increase capacity on the Austin-Boston route on May 1 by switching to a larger Airbus A320, adding 50 seats a day.

In other news, JetBlue has taken delivery of its first new A320 with a redesigned interior, and said all 88 of the new A320s it has on order will have the same features. The aircraft’s new seats are more lightweight and all leather, “offering more comfy cushions and increased personal space created by thinner seat profiles,” the company said. The aircraft’s new sculptured sidewall panels permit a wider cabin, “allowing more shoulder room for customers seated at the window,” JetBlue noted. The new cabins also provide 10 percent more overhead bin space than existing aircraft, and come with new LED lighting systems. The redesign has a benefit for JetBlue’s bottom line, since the new aircraft weigh more than 1,000 pounds less than older models, which should let the company save $52,000 a year in fuel costs for each new plane.