JetBlue, one of the few airlines to still offer complimentary snacks during flights (I’m looking at you and your $9 snack boxes, United), announced today that it will start operating flights out of Worcester Regional Airport this November. In related news, Worcester has its own airport.

JetBlue is making a surprising move, since the entire airline industry has suffered since the recession (again, $9 snack boxes), and the modest Worcester airport has struggled to keep its clientele ever since Direct Air packed up and moved on last March. For the past few months, prominent JetBlue executives have been visiting the Worcester location and very publicly tweeting their support in a campaign leading up to their coming presence at the Central Mass. location. Its Worcester service will provide flights to Austin, Tx., Orlando, Fl., Ft. Lauderdale, Fl., and San Juan, Puerto Rico. The Florida-bound flights will run two times daily.

Worcester Regional Airport hasn’t housed any major airlines since Direct Air left, but when Massachusetts Port Authority, who owns the airport, requested JetBlue to consider providing service, the airline responded. Last year, JetBlue CEO Dave Barger visited the airport, and then made a public announcement to excited locals, saying that “Worcester feels very JetBlue.” Company CEOs are specially attuned to that sort of thing, so just trust him on this one.

JetBlue’s arrival in Worcester will provide the area with new jobs, boost the local economy, and enhance the airport alternative to the crowds at Boston Logan. The announcement also comes five weeks after Mass. Port Authority authorized a $32 million project to upgrade the airport’s landing systems. Officials hope that a major-name airline like JetBlue (whose service accounted for 25 percent of Logan’s traffic) will attract new customers to the airport. Since it acquired the airport in 2010, Mass. Port Authority has reportedly lost $5 million yearly in operation fees.