JetBlue launches first UK flight despite pandemic

JetBlue is making history as other airlines re-think plans amid a slowdown in ticket sales and a pick-up in cancellations.

The budget U.S. carrier on Thursday completed its first transatlantic flight ever between the U.S. and London's Heathrow Airport.

JetBlue is trying to get a piece of the action in one of the world's busiest and most lucrative international routes, but one that has been traditionally hard for budget carriers to crack.

The launch comes at a difficult time for the industry.

Travel across the Atlantic remains partially shut due to the health crisis.

The U.S. is still not allowing most travelers from the U.K. into the country...

while Britain just started to allow fully vaccinated U.S. travelers to enter earlier this month.

U.K. based carriers like British Airways and Virgin Atlantic have been severely hobbled by those travel restrictions, since they have less of a domestic market to rely on...

Major U.S. carriers Delta, American Airline and United Airlines are focused on other routes, which could now be seeing a slowdown after a burst of activity in the spring and the summer....with the health crisis now in a new more contagious phase.

JetBlue is hoping it can disrupt the transatlantic route and get a competitive edge by driving fares lower.

It plans to add flights to London's Gatwick in late September and between Boston and London next year.