JetBlue is “increasing its commitment to Bermuda” with additional direct flights from New York and Boston boosting the number of available seats by about 70,000 per year.

The airline yesterday announced two additional year-round daily flights and a third summer seasonal round-trip flight between its northeast “focus cities”.

JetBlue will operate all Bermuda routes using its 150-seat Airbus A320, which will replace the 100-seat craft.

Senator Michael Fahy, the tourism minister, told a press conference yesterday: “This announcement will provide further opportunities for our east coast guests to visit our shores and help meet the increasing demand for aeroplane seats. This has been a very positive year for tourism in Bermuda and I am thrilled for 2016 to conclude on such an encouraging note.

“This announcement has been made possible through the efforts of a joint working team consisting of persons from the Bermuda Tourism Authority and the Ministry of Tourism, Transport and Municipalities. The ministry and the BTA have been working closely together to approach airlines collectively with the common goal of expanding Bermuda’s airlift. That relationship is bearing fruit.”

From May 18, JetBlue will operate daily year-round flights between New York’s JFK International Airport and Bermuda’s L.F. Wade International Airport with an evening departure from New York and a morning departure from Bermuda.

Additionally, the airline will operate a second daily round-trip during the summer peak with a morning departure from New York and an afternoon departure from Bermuda. The move will expand JetBlue’s present once daily year-round service and offer more options for customers on both sides of the route.

Flights between New York and Bermuda are now on sale with introductory fares starting at $49 one way.

Also from May 18, the airline will increase its seasonal summer service between Boston Logan International Airport and Bermuda to a year-round daily service. Flights with a morning departure from Boston and an afternoon departure from Bermuda, are also on sale with introductory fares of $79 one way.

The flights will also benefit connecting customers in Bermuda who can now connect to an additional nine JetBlue cities including Houston and Jacksonville while increasing connecting options for destinations such as San Francisco, Chicago and Orlando.

Dave Clark, vice-president of network planning for JetBlue, addressed the media to express his gratitude to BTA CEO Bill Hanbury, the airport team and the Bermuda Government, saying that the deal equates to JetBlue more than doubling its capacity in Bermuda.

“This will provide even more low fares and more consistent and reliable schedule and operation for our customers,” he said.

“We are not just committing more aircraft to Bermuda we are committing to Bermuda itself. We are committing with the help of our partners here to more advertising in the US to bring more visitors to Bermuda. We are committing to being even bigger partners here in your community. We view this as a partnership and we will work hard to win the loyalty of customers in Bermuda.”

Director of public and stakeholder relations at the BTA, Glenn Jones, added: “We are properly positioned for growth out of Boston that is likely to be better than modest. The BTA is excited about these developments for additional reasons.

“More flights and more seats from our gateway markets typically lead to more competitive pricing making airfare more affordable for all travellers, we have already experienced this out of JFK. Increased inventory on a year-round basis will help us to break the back of seasonality — it means next winter we will have an even better chance to keep hotel workers on the job, taxi drivers on the road and attractions across the island open to welcome visitors in the shoulder season.”

• For a press release from JetBlue which includes more details about the new flights, click on the PDF under “Related Media”.