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The Department of Transportation fined JetBlue Airways $2 million for repeated delays on four routes, crediting it $1 million for past and future passenger compensation.
The DOT said the fine was the first of its kind.
JetBlue said its on-time rate has improved and urged the incoming administration to invest in improving air traffic control.

JetBlue Airways aircraft are pictured at departure gates at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York on June 15, 2013.
Fred Prouser | Reuters

The Department of Transportation fined JetBlue Airways $2 million for “chronically delayed flights,” the first penalty of its kind, the DOT said Friday.
JetBlue operated four routes that were delayed at least 145 times from June 2022 through November 2023, the DOT said. Those were between JetBlue’s home hub at John F. Kennedy International Airport and Raleigh-Durham International Airport in North Carolina; between Fort Lauderdale and Orlando, Florida, and JFK, and between Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and Windsor Locks, Connecticut, according to the DOT.

“Today’s action puts the entire airline industry on notice that we expect their flight schedules to reflect reality,” said Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg in a news release.

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JetBlue was responsible for more than 70% of the disruptions on the four routes, the DOT said. The airline failed to adjust the flight times “to avoid illegal unrealistic scheduling,” the department added.
The DOT considers a flight chronically delayed if it is flown at least 10 times a month and arrives over 30 minutes late more than half the time. It said it has ongoing investigations into other airlines for unrealistic flight schedules.
JetBlue said in a statement the government has to do more to improve staffing of air traffic controllers and modernize the system, echoing calls from executives at Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and other major carriers.
“While we’ve reached a settlement to resolve this matter regarding four flights in 2022 and 2023, we believe accountability for reliable air travel equally lies with the U.S. government, which operates our nation’s air traffic control system,” JetBlue said in its statement. “We believe the U.S. should have the safest, most efficient, and advanced air traffic control system in the world, and we urge the incoming administration to prioritize modernizing outdated ATC technology and addressing chronic air traffic controller staffing shortages to reduce ATC delays that affect millions of air travelers each year.”

Based in New York, JetBlue operates in some of the world’s most congested airspace. From January through September 2024, JetBlue ranked ninth out of 10 U.S. airlines in on-time arrivals with 71.3% of flights arriving on time, an improvement over 64.9% in the year-earlier period, according to a monthly DOT tally.
The DOT said it would credit JetBlue $1 million of the fine for goodwill compensation already paid to passengers during the investigation’s time frame as well as for compensation that is payable within a year of the order with vouchers to affected passengers paid at at least $75.

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Hindenburg Research disclosed a short position in Carvana on Thursday, claiming the company’s recent turnaround is a “mirage” that is being propped up by unstable loans and accounting manipulation.
The report centers on Carvana’s practice of loan sales as well as the business relationship between CEO Ernie Garcia III and his father, Ernest Garcia II, who is Carvana’s largest shareholder.
Carvana in a statement called Hindenburg’s report “intentionally misleading and inaccurate” without going into specific details.

CFOTO | Future Publishing | Getty Images

Noted short seller Hindenburg Research disclosed a bet against Carvana on Thursday, claiming the online used-car retailer’s recent turnaround is a “mirage” that is being propped up by unstable loans and accounting manipulation.
The report, called “Carvana: A Father-Son Accounting Grift For The Ages,” centers on Carvana’s practice of loan sales as well as the business relationship between CEO Ernie Garcia III and his father, Ernest Garcia II, who is Carvana’s largest shareholder.

Shares of Carvana closed Thursday at $199.56, down 1.9% – marking its first close under $200 per share since October. The stock increased nearly 400% in 2023, as the company improved results and reduced costs as part of a turnaround plan led by Ernie Garcia III.
Carvana in a statement called Hindenburg’s report “intentionally misleading and inaccurate” without going into specific details.
“In the 7 years since our IPO, Carvana has been one of the most heavily researched public companies. The arguments in today’s report are intentionally misleading and inaccurate and have already been made numerous times by other short sellers seeking to benefit from a decline in our stock price,” Carvana said in an emailed statement Thursday afternoon. “We plan to stay focused on executing our plan for another great year in 2025.”
Hindenburg says it uncovered $800 million in loan sales “to a suspected undisclosed related party, along with details on how accounting manipulation and lax underwriting have fueled temporary reported income growth — all while insiders cash out billions in stock.”
Hindenburg also alleges that an increase in borrower extensions at Carvana is being enabled by the company’s loan servicer, an affiliate of private car dealership DriveTime, which is run by Garcia II. The “company seems to be avoiding reporting higher delinquencies by granting loan extensions instead,” according to Hindenburg.

CNBC could not immediately verify the claims in the Hindenburg report.
This is not the first time the Garcia family and its control of the company have been a target of some investors, including lawsuits in recent years alleging the Garcias run a “pump-and-dump” scheme to enrich themselves.
Carvana went public in 2017 after spinning off from DriveTime.
DriveTime was formerly a bankrupt rental-car business known as Ugly Duckling that Garcia II, who pled guilty to bank fraud in 1990 in connection to Charles Keating’s Lincoln Savings and Loan scandal, grew into a dealership network.
Most notably, Carvana still relies on the company for servicing and collections on automotive vehicle financing, and the two companies share revenues generated by the loans. The businesses also, at times, sell vehicles to each other, and Carvana leases several facilities from DriveTime in addition to profit-sharing agreements.

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Aeromexico, Saudia and Delta dominated the rankings for most on-time airlines last year.
On-time arrivals are flights that arrive within 15 minutes of their scheduled time.
No airline topped 90% in on-time arrivals.

Travelers view the arrival and departure boards at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S., on Tuesday, Dec. 21, 2021.
Elijah Nouvelage | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Air travel demand continued to surge in 2024, led by a bounce back in international trips.
From January through October alone, revenue-passenger miles worldwide, a demand metric, was up nearly 11% over last year, according to the International Air Transport Association. In 2025, IATA estimates aircraft departures of 40 million, up 4.6% from 2024.

Airlines scrambled to add flights and increase premium seating, which brings in higher revenue, especially on long-haul trips. Challenges from shortages of new aircraft to financial strife continued for some carriers, however, many passengers didn’t face the same flight disruptions as they did during acute staffing shortages coming out of the pandemic.

An Aeromexico airplane prepares to land on the airstrip at Benito Juarez international airport in Mexico City, Mexico.
Edgard Garrido | Reuters

The most on-time airlines spanned the globe, according to a ranking released Thursday by Cirium. The aviation data firm considers punctuality an arrival that occurs within 15 minutes of the scheduled time. Delta Air Lines topped the North American ranking despite its struggle to recover from the CrowdStrike outage in July that canceled thousands of flights.

Here’s how the world’s carriers fared:

(On-time rate in parenthesis)

Aeromexico (86.7%)
Saudia Airlines (86.35%)
Delta Air Lines (83.46%)
LATAM Airlines (82.89%)
Qatar Airways (82.83%)
Azul Airlines (82.42%)
Avianca (81.80%)
Iberia (81.58%)
Scandinavian Airlines (81.40%)
United Airlines (80.93%)

And here are the rankings for North American airlines:

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