June 14--Some passengers arriving Thursday at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport to board JetBlue Airways Flight 541 to Medellin, Colombia, were wondering what all the commotion was about.
The balloons, music, folk dancers, refreshments and giveways at Gate F4 in Terminal 3 were hard to miss as they entered the boarding area around 1 p.m.
"This was a nice surprise," North Miami Beach musician Yeshiva Velez, 30, said of JetBlue's gate party to launch its new daily nonstop flight to the South American city.
"It's pretty nice to have JetBlue now flying to Medellin," said Velez, who had flown Avianca and Spirit Airlines to Medellin for work and to visit family.
Jamie Dodd, of Boston, was also caught off-guard by the festivities, unaware before arriving that he'd be flying on JetBlue's first flight from Fort Lauderdale to Medellin.
"I'm excited. If it's going to be a continuous thing, I'll take it again, as I like JetBlue," said Dodd, who works in waste energy products and was en route to Medellin for business.
JetBlue officials are banking on the new route's longevity, especially given the positive reception for the Fort Lauderdale-to-Bogota service launched in May 2012.
"It's great to see customers have embraced JetBlue's low fares and great service on our flights to Colombia from Fort Lauderdale, Orlando and New York," said Scott Laurence, vice president of network planning for JetBlue Airways. "Our Medellin service adds to our successful franchise in Colombia."
Tourism officials say visitor traffic between Colombia and Fort Lauderdale is on the upswing.
"Colombia has been outstanding for us, it's growing so much so quickly, and it's a great combination of business and leisure travel," said Fernando Harb, vice president, tourism sales, for the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau. "It's truly a great addition, and we have great hopes for what the new flight can do for the destination."
The new route provides another opportunity for the 65,000 Colombians living in Broward County to visit friends and relatives in Medellin, said Kent George, aviation director for the Fort Lauderdale airport.
"JetBlue recognizes the importance and magnitude of the international community in Broward, and has been very successful in developing routes and destinations to meet this market's needs," George said.
Since JetBlue began service from Fort Lauderdale on Feb. 11, 2000, with two daily flights to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, it has carried more than 32 million passengers through the airport on 262,395 flights, George said. For the past five consecutive months, it's been the airport's largest carrier, and has about 18 percent of passenger traffic.
The Medellin service is just one of several new routes JetBlue will launch this year from Fort Lauderdale. New service will begin to San Jose, Costa Rica, later this month; to Worcester, Mass., and Lima, Peru, in November; and to Port-au-Prince, Haiti, in December.
More routes are planned.
"Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood is a big part of our growth strategy," Jim Leddy, senior vice president and treasurer, told passengers booked on the Medellin flight Thursday. "Today we have about 50 to 60 departures a day, and in a few years we want to grow that to 100 flights per day at this airport."
Margate resident Clara Trujillo was excited to travel on Thursday's inaugural Medellin flight.
"Medellin is my hometown," said Trujillo, 71, who previously flew Avianca from Miami to Medellin, which she noted was pricier. "I'm happy."
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