Emirates Fined $1.5M for JetBlue Code Share Violations

The U.S. Transportation Department fined Emirates $1.5 million for operating flights with JetBlue Airways’ code in prohibited airspace from December 2021 to August 2022. This violation breaches a previous 2020 consent order. Emirates may face additional fines if such violations continue within a year.

The U.S. Transportation Department said on Thursday it fined Emirates $1.5 million for operating flights carrying JetBlue Airways’ designator code in prohibited airspace. The department said that between December 2021 and August 2022, Emirates operated a significant number of flights carrying the JetBlue Airways code between the United Arab Emirates and the United States in airspace prohibited by the Federal Aviation Administration to U.S. operators. This conduct also violated a consent order issued in October 2020 fining Emirates for operating other flights in airspace under an FAA prohibition.

Emirates was ordered to pay $200,000 under the 2020

order and another $200,000 if it violated the order within a year. JetBlue, whose code share with Emirates ended in 2022, declined to comment. Emirates did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The department said flights at issue had traversed the Baghdad Flight Information Region below certain altitudes, which the Federal Aviation Administration has prohibited all U.S. air carriers, all U.S. commercial operators and code shares from operating without special permission. Emirates could face another $300,000 fine if it violates the rules again within a year. Emirates told USDOT it prioritizes the safety of passengers, employees, and other airspace users, adding the flights in question only operated below the allowed level "as a result of direct instructions from the relevant air traffic controllers" and in some cases to avoid a collision.

Emirates argued the pilots "were legally obliged to follow the instructions of the relevant air traffic controllers and any failure to comply with such instructions would have had significant safety implications," the department said.