JetBlue’s Challenge to Florida Airline Income Tax Law Trimmed

JetBlue Airways Corp. can proceed with its commerce clause arguments in its challenge to a Florida law laying out how much of a commercial airline’s income is taxable in the state, a trial judge ruled.

Florida law requires an air or sea transportation company to add up every mile it carries passengers within a geographical area statutorily defined by latitude and longitude. But that box includes international waters and portions of other states where Florida has no authority to tax, JetBlue said in a July complaint filed in the Florida Circuit Court, Second Judicial Circuit.

Judge Jonathan Sjostrom ruled Wednesday ...