I’ve recently written about the Q2 2024 financial results of American, Delta, and United, which weren’t great, for the most part, and point to industry overcapacity (or at least that’s the narrative that airline executives like to tell).
Continue reading: JetBlue Defers Airbus A321neo Deliveries To 2030 And Beyond
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
JetBlue has proven it is no longer able to compete and that flyers have no interest in its subpar product. It should liquidate its operation and, in the name of the public good, donate all of its slots at JFK, LGA, and DCA to the airline that always takes the best care of its guests, is the most on time in the industry, and has award-winning service on every flight, Delta.
Fake TD, I know you're joking about this but many people unironically have this take.
They said Jetblue would fail in 1998
They said it in 1999
They said it in 2000
They said it in 2001
They said it in etc etc.
Considering how, unlike DL/AA/UA (at LGA for United) they don't do ANY slot hoarding, I'm quite frustrauted at this B6 must go mentality.
They're staying whether people like it or bot.
Things must be very dicey for jetBlue at this point if they are deferring deliveries 4-5 years out. Usually when a Company takes such measures they are paring the operation down for a possible means for being acquired down the road. Recently they announced they will be installing their version of a premium cabin across the fleet and more than likely they are positioning themselves to be acquired or merged into another Carrier that already has that product. jetBlue has some valuable pieces but No Competitor would want the current Operation in whole. Time will tell what is revealed.
@roger. They haven’t announced that yet at all. Good to have all these internet geniuses out and about!!
the pathological obsession that every order must be for UA is frightening.
Airbus is paying delay compensation to airlines right now; they aren't delivering anything extra to any airline if they can't make far more money than what they have to pay for other airlines.
It isn't and never was Airbus' responsibility to fix Boeing's problems including that United argued for years that it could not order the A321 because AA had most favored nation pricing - even though DL put a couple hundred A321s in service before UA got around to getting its first A321.
JBLU has run its balance sheet well enough that they intend to be around knowing full well it will take time to turn its earnings around.
Like Southwest, JBLU has the staying power that other low cost carriers including Spirit do not have.
It's a shame that it took so long to clean out the people that have kept JetBlue in a money-losing mode for years but the people running it now ARE making the right moves.
Job #1 which they recognize is to get the airline back on time.
And the irony is that they will turn it around while still be a predominantly NE airline even though the excuse for years is that JBLU's on-time was so poor because it flew so heavily in the NE.
"the pathological obsession"
~YOU~ chastising anyone else for "pathological obsession," is the height of comical irony!
But that said, Airbus isn't just going to give those aircraft away as an "I'm so sorry" to anyone, United or otherwise. They're basically the hottest commodity on the narrowbody market, in extreme demand, and there's no way in hell that Airbus doesn't sell them for top dollar to whomever is willing to pony-up.
JetBlue is such an interesting airline. Their inflight product is one of the best whether it's in Mint or economy.
But they really can't compete on frequencies. Despite having such important hubs like JFK and BOS for O&D, they don't do a great job of frequencies to many destinations, many large cities still only have one or two frequencies a day.
On top of that, they can't figure out their long-term strategy. TATL expansion is nice, but they don't/can't really do much of feeding into their hubs to really maximize. They're a leisure focused carrier that operates in some of the largest business demand cities.
The only possible buyer that might swallow it whole would be UA, I think: UA is a near non-entity east of the Hudson (no JFK, not much at LGA or BOS) and they're well behind AA and DL in Florida and the Caribbean.
My guess is with UA so large at EWR, they wouldn't be able to buy B6. IMO only AA or AS would be able to purchase B6.
Surprised how much they’re relying on the A220. Would fit in nicely to build frequency in under served markets. I understand Egypt Air has 10 A220 airframes for sale. Might be an opportunity to pick up a unit or two on the cheap.
As readers of OMAAT have to scroll through up to twenty @TimDunn's magnum opus on DL, why not all the trollers. @Ben can fix this; he chooses not to.
Airbus is having trouble delivering what they have on order now. Having a customer delay airframes, prob helps them out.
The irony of you talking about other commenters “pathological obsession” with United is hilarious.
Buddy, look in the f’ing mirror! You are beyond obsessed with anything United. Go outside for a walk and get some fresh air more often.
I think OneWorld entry is their move. It creates feed from the west coast and from LHR. The codeshare application from BA was covered 2 months ago as if it were spite from BA toward AA. That might be, but it is also clear that OneWorld cooperation with AA and AS is the move that clears the DOJ concerns (and AA wants a relationship with B6). Having some version of business class for BA and QR TATL feed into East Coast and Caribbean would be useful, I imagine. For that to work, they need to be reliable and the route network needs to stabilize. But I can see it coming in the not so distant future.
The whole rationale for the Spirit merger was the need for planes to expand. Was there an any reason why they didn't try to buy Frontier which was more likely up be approved? It's sad that the company's relationship wasted so many resources on a merger that did not help the carrier gain any tangible assets except for removing competition from a company that solely competed on price. Meanwhile. Jetblue struggles with price and service....
Although I griped last year (and the year before) of JetBlue's frequent delays, it was coming out of Covid understaffed with a lot of new employees. Even airlines such as Delta had a meltdown in June 2022, with being understaffed and aspiring to fly more than their capability allowed. Hopefully with more experience and fully staffed, B6 can more cut down on the delays (especially if ATC gets fully staffed soon too).
Spirit and Frontier DID originally intend to merge but JetBlue came in and outbid Frontier, the B6/NK merger was shot down and both carriers are worse off now than they were before.
It still is not out of the realm of possibility for NK and F9 to merge but no one is going to try anything right now.
B6 is likely to be a niche carrier as far out as it can see and has to figure out how to be profitable on a standalone basis or in partnerships that the US will allow -which could include an AA/AS style non-immunized partnership that does not involve swapping LGA and JFK slots
And remember that AA was the one that wanted the Northeast Alliance with B6 in the first place because AA had to figure out how to use all of the LGA and JFK slots it was not using.
The only reason that AA doesn't have to think about using all of those slots is because the FAA can't staff NYC ATC and everyone at this point is happy not to have more capacity in the market.
the ability to operate reliably in NE airspace is to have backup resources - planes and crews - that are not fully utilized when weather is decent but can serve as backup resources to keep from having to cancel and pick out the best flights to operate depending on the capacity the NYC airports can use.
For the big 3, it is regional jet flights that get cancelled first from NYC as well as cities where passengers can be put on trains and other ground transportation.