In late May 2025, JetBlue and United announced plans to launch a partnership, which they’re branding as ”Blue Sky.” While I don’t think this should come as much of a surprise, the deal has been cleared by regulators.
Continue reading: JetBlue & United Partnership Gets DOT Approval, As It Should
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
B6 reported its financial results for today and it is notable that B6' CEO said that B6 has modeled the value of the JFK slot swap as part of the deal.
As I said when BlueSky was announced, there is no assurance that B6 will choose to move forward with the slot deal.
And if another carrier does a deal w/ B6 which will have less competitive concerns than UA-B6, BlueSky will be over.
An even more controversial arrangement than the NEA, which outside of its slot sharing, was more palatable. UA controls an outsized amount of traffic at EWR, and B6 has a sizable presence there, not to mention it is the #2 carrier at JFK. The overlap between these two makes this partnership so problematic. B6 has proven again and again it can't run profitably or on time, and will eventually be absorbed by one of the US3. That US3 won't be UA.
DOJ just fired two senior anti-trust lawyers hired by this Administration who were against a settlement with HPE who acquired Juniper Networks. There is a new sheriff in town. The game has changed.
https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2025/07/29/politics/justice-department-fires-two-senior-antitrust-attorneys
and yet the comment right above mine is what most rational people recognize.
UA screwed up its NYC strategy by becoming overly dependent on EWR which is an airport that has far less capacity than JFK; UA walked away from JFK and now is acting like they should be entitled to get back into JFK while still controlling 2/3 of EWR, even if the size of EWR will be permanently lower than it was for much of the time since CO built the hub.
the only losers are those that can't accept that decisions have consequences and can't stand to hear that not everyone bows down to anyone or anything.
Tim. You actually make some great points. If you could just shorten them please. Otherwise most of them are quite informative.
Separate subject but why did American Airlines remove all Qatar award availability yesterday? Maybe Ben can figure out why.
Icing on the cake, but B6 needs more to survive in the long run.
In some way, it needs to leverage it presence at JFK & BOS by joining the Star Alliance. As a founding member, UA has veto power over such. Therefore, B6 could provide the domestic leg for Euro & Asian members at both airports enhancing its cash flow.
Another option is for a foreign carrier like Luft Group to provide partial ownership. Again, another avenue for Star membership. At the present, Der Kaiser is buying into Euro airlines left and right (ITA & AirBaltic). America awaits and B6 is the foot in the door.
complex thoughts are not conveyed in sound bites.
The bottom line idea is that UA is now very interested in B6 because UA needs to fix its NYC strategic failures.
and yet the strategic "fix" that B6 and UA still has significant competitive concerns that UA fans seem to think don't matter any more even though there are other solutions for B6 that involve less negative impact to consumers with the most significant that B6 could successfully reorganize and remain as a standalone carrier.
States have just as much ability to sink mergers as the DOJ does. The NEA lawsuit involved about a half dozen states which have just as much standing as the DOJ does. There is no reason why key states are willing to accept higher prices
We all know Uniteds real intentions. To be in JFK. This is only the beginning.
it takes two to tango and it also takes government approval for major transactions to take place.
UA also wanted to continue to dominate NYC but that went "poof" with the capacity limits which the DOT put on EWR and which handed the "largest NYC airline" title to DL.
B6 will be bought by UA by the end of the year. They will use the EWR restrictions as excuse to get the DOJ to approve the deal.
This gets UA back into JFK, a blunder by management, and B6 a better chance of survival. Does it lead to something more along the lines of a codeshare or even an acquisition (and will that get approved) time will tell.
UA still controls 65% of EWR and B6 adds another 4-5% which is a higher level of concentration than any other major NE airport.
EWR has been cut dramatically but it isn't exactly a small operation. UA still has the largest single airport operation in the NE at EWR.
Allowing UA to combine w/ someone that is even #2 - eliminating a lower cost competitor - is bad for consumers and it doesn't matter who the players are.
Let's not toast the inevitability of a B6 sellout to UA just yet. all that got approved is a fairly simple joint marketing program. the biggest revenue benefit for B6 is UA's use of Paisly which has nothing to do with NYC size or slots.
Scott Kirby has been kissing Trump's orange butt non-stop since the day the election was over and it paid off for him. Yes, is an outright merger next ? In today's USA, you kiss ass you get rewarded!
yeah... those EWR capacity cuts are the result of butt-kissing for sure?
Real donations don't help your competitors do better
The Port Authority of NY NJ has released traffic stats for June and, to no one's surprise, UA continues to lag DL in passengers carried with DL carrying 33% more passengers overall and 50% more domestic passengers.
ATC issues have compounded the traffic reductions with 4% fewer flights (14% for UA) across all 3 airports and 4% fewer passengers.
AA is seeing the largest percentage increase but is still just over half the size of DL from NYC. B6 carries more passengers from NYC than AA does.
UA desperately wants to do a deal w/ B6 but the chances of anything more than a simple codeshare involving the #2 and #3 carriers in any market are slim to none.
"In today's USA, you kiss ass you get rewarded!"
Buddy do you know what K Street is? This is not new.
it's also worth noting that UA boards an average of 152 passengers/international flight from NYC while DL carries 172.
UA has lost 15% of its flights from NYC due to the EWR capacity restrictions; DL now has 33% more flights from NYC than UA.
Who are the people that are telling us that flying narrowbody international aircraft from NYC makes any sense if the goal is remotely to hold onto if not extend your market lead?