After years of trying to lure JetBlue to New Hampshire, Manchester airport has finally succeeded.

The nation’s biggest discount airline announced Wednesday that in January it will start year-round service to Orlando and winter seasonal service to Ft. Lauderdale and Ft. Myers, all in Florida, from Manchester-Boston Regional Airport. 

The news is the latest, and perhaps most welcome, addition to the service from New Hampshire’s biggest airport.  A year ago, start-up Avelo Airlines arrived and this week it expanded, adding routes to Charlotte, N.C., and central Florida, while in February, Sun Country Airlines announced service to Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn., and start-up Breeze Airways announced service to Charleston, S.C., and several Florida locations, 

All these are discount airlines, like JetBlue, but JetBlue is far more established. Manchester-Boston Airport has long tried to get it here, but has struggled to be noticed in the shadow of Boston’s Logan Airport, where JetBlue is well established.

It’s unclear if Wednesday’s announcement by JetBlue is related to the company’s failed attempt to merge with Spirit Airlines, which had a big presence at the Manchester airport until it abruptly pulled out earlier this year. 

Spirit arrived in Manchester in 2021 as the first new airline to show up here in 17 years. Its arrival was heralded as a sign of rebirth after a decade of declining traffic at the airport so the departure was a blow – but that blow has been greatly softened by all the new airlines and routes. 

The JetBlue news comes as it is expanding service at Boston’s Logan Airport and adding some other New England routes, including Presque Isle, Maine.

Southwest Airlines is by far the biggest airline at Manchester-Boston, carrying roughly half the passengers that use the airport.