JetBlue Airways, which is seeking U.S. approval to take over Miramar-based Spirit Airlines, unveiled a long-term business plan on Wednesday that envisions 250 daily flights from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport to an array of cities including Tallahassee.

The rollout would start in January 2024 with Florida’s state capital being the first addition. It would unfold over the next three years into 2027, adding roughly 90 flights to the current 160 operated by both JetBlue and Spirit from the airport, the company said in a statement.

By then, the acquisition of Spirit will have been completed, provided that the Biden administration’s Justice Department green-lights the marriage of the two carriers, which would become the nation’s fifth largest airline. Last year, Spirit shareholders approved the airline’s buyout by JetBlue for $3.8 billion.

Although JetBlue asserts that the deal would benefit consumers through lower fares and more service to underserved cities, the acquisition is reportedly a target of a prospective lawsuit by the administration, which intends to argue the opposite.

In turn, JetBlue has been methodically buttressing its case for how consumers would benefit. And on Wednesday, it took the unusual step of publicizing a prospectus for future service from Fort Lauderdale, which was one of its original ‘focus” cities when the New York-based discount airline started flying more than 24 years ago.

Besides Tallahassee and a surge in new flights, JetBlue’s key points include:

• There would be flights to approximately 30 markets not served by either JetBlue or Spirit from Fort Lauderdale today. Examples would include Minneapolis, Memphis, and Savannah, Ga.

• Europe would become a JetBlue destination from the airport

• Fort Lauderdale would “become an even more attractive alternative to Miami on more routes.” Currently, JetBlue and Spirit serve 66 of the top 100 markets available from Miami International Airport. After completing the expansion, “JetBlue would serve from Fort Lauderdale approximately 90 of the top 100 Miami markets.”

The plan also includes a commitment to use Spirit’s newly constructed headquarters in Dania Beach, the construction of a new maintenance hangar at the airport, as well as the occupancy of the airport’s new Terminal 5, which is in the planning stages. A groundbreaking is expected this year with a potential completion by spring 2026, according to the airport.

All told, the expansion would result in the addition of 1,000 employees to the merged airline in Broward County, the company said.

“As a customer-centric alternative to the high-fare legacy airline that dominates South Florida, we have achieved rapid growth in Fort Lauderdale and are ready to turbocharge further expansion once we combine with Spirit,” Robin Hayes, JetBlue’s chief executive officer, said in the statement. “You shouldn’t have to choose between a low fare and a great experience. JetBlue offers both, and that’s why we are uniquely positioned to challenge the Big Four airlines and boost competition in Florida and across the country.”

Direct to Tallahassee

Florida’s state capital has rarely benefitted from direct air service from South Florida, forcing lawmakers and others with government business to take mostly circuitous air routes via other cities or travel by car or bus to cover the 460 miles to get there. The regional carrier Silver Airways offers nonstop service.

“FLL is one of America’s dynamic emerging travel hubs and I’m proud of the commitment, history and role that JetBlue and its amazing workers have played in that,” U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz said in the JetBlue statement.

“It’s especially encouraging that JetBlue’s growth plans will not only build on that and bring new jobs, but it will also more closely connect our community with Florida’s seat of government in Tallahassee, where more direct citizen engagement and input is always welcome,” she said.

The airport’s top executive said he was “encouraged” by the airline’s plan and said he will work with JetBlue.

“We applaud JetBlue’s plans to offer new nonstop jet service from FLL to Tallahassee next January, an option long sought after for many years, and we are encouraged by their support for FLL’s Master Plan,” said Mark E. Gale, CEO/Director of Aviation at the airport. “We look forward to working with JetBlue on its robust growth plans for FLL, which includes new international service.”

More routes to Latin America, Caribbean

The proposed combined airline also would offer flights to markets that are not served by either Spirit or JetBlue, including to foreign destinations. Both airlines serve an array of destinations around the Caribbean and in Central and South America.

Besides flights out of Fort Lauderdale to Antigua, Belize and Liberia-Gaunacaste, Costa Rica, service would be offered to Latin America from various western U.S. cities, according to a JetBlue filing with the U.S. Department of Transportation.

For example, there would be flights to Guatemala City out of San Francisco and Salt Lake City; and service to Quito, Ecuador, from Dallas/Fort Worth, Houston and Denver.

There also would be service to Nassau in the Bahamas, from the Far West and Midwest, as well as from Tampa and Charlotte.

JetBlue says it would essentially compete against hubs operated by bigger carriers such as American Airlines in Miami and Houston, United Airlines in Houston, and Delta Air Lines in Atlanta.

Where JetBlue would land, the airline argues, the other carriers would match its lower fares.

Persuading regulators

In a telephone interview, Dave Clark, head of JetBlue’s revenue and planning, and Rob Land, associate general counsel and head of government affairs, reiterated the company’s position that a JetBlue-Spirit combination would offer more flight choices and better prices than the so-called “Big Four” carriers constituted by American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Southwest Airlines and United Airlines. Together, they constitute 80% of the market.

“We’re the antidote to that,” Land said. “This merger is the answer to that consolidation.”

“If you don’t let small low-fares carriers grow, that doesn’t bode well” for consumers, he added.

Clark said that American is the predominant carrier in South Florida with 35% of the market. Spirit, he said, is slightly below 15% while JetBlue is at 10% to 11%

“When we combine, we’d still be at only 25% share against [American’s] 35,” he said.

In the meantime, he said, JetBlue is willing to divest Spirit’s assets in Boston and the New York area so that other low-cost carriers could acquire them and serve Florida and keep the market competitive.

“Just to ensure there is robust [ultra low-cost carrier] competition, we would divest five gates at Fort Lauderdale itself,” he added.

Clark said JetBlue expects the acquisition to close “by the first half of next year.”

“We’ll then begin the integration process where we align the fleets and onboard products,” he said.

Staff writer David Lyons can be reached at dvlyons@SunSentinel.com