JetBlue to keep HQ in NYC

JetBlue will keep its corporate headquarters in New York City after considering a move to Orlando, Fla.

A press conference is scheduled Monday afternoon to announce the decision, according to New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s office.

The airline mulled a move for more than a year. It later narrowed the search down to New York and Orlando, the site of its training facility. Both New York and Orlando offered JetBlue incentives to call their cities home.

Moving to Orlando would have meant a brand adjustment for the carrier, which calls itself “New York’s hometown airline.”

A spokesman for the airline declined to comment.

JetBlue has about 800 employees at two offices in the New York metro area — a home office in Queens and a small finance department in Darien, Conn. The lease on JetBlue’s New York headquarters expires in 2012. The Connecticut office’s lease expires next year.

A City Hall spokesman said the deal includes moving the Connecticut employees to Long Island City. It also promises additional investments in JetBlue’s operational home at John F. Kennedy International Airport and creation of new jobs here.