JetBlue doesn’t belong to any major alliance, but we know that in recent times, the airline has been in discussions with multiple US airlines about a possible partnership. There’s now an interesting update.
In this post:
American no longer pursuing JetBlue collaboration
Back in 2021, American and JetBlue launched the Northeast Alliance. This came at a time where American was adding long haul service out of New York (JFK), but was otherwise struggling to compete with Delta and United at their NYC-area hubs.
A judge ultimately ended up blocking the arrangement, arguing it was anticompetitive. The issue wasn’t the partnership as such, but rather how the airlines were coordinating slots, schedules, routes, etc, which was almost similar in nature to a joint venture. Since the agreement was blocked, there has been talk of the two airlines pursuing a scaled back partnership, especially in recent times.
@xJonNYC now reports that these conversations have terminated.
AA: "Recent talks to partner with B6 have gone kaput, so AA is on its own in NY for foreseeable future" (AA related, not an official quote -from- AA)
— JonNYC (@xjonnyc.bsky.social) April 28, 2025 at 5:09 PM
Following that, American has also published the full internal memo that it sent regarding this, signed by Vice Chair and Chief Strategy Officer Steve Johnson. I think it’s worth sharing in its entirety, as it has quite some noteworthy statements:
In recent months, we had been exploring an opportunity to further enhance our network by renewing a partnership with JetBlue. As always in considering partnerships, the objective was to advance our business strategy and enhance our customer proposition by building on American’s network position and giving a partner’s customers access to our global network and the world’s best loyalty program in AAdvantage.
Although we proposed a very attractive proposition to JetBlue and its customers and team, it became clear over time that JetBlue was focused on different business priorities. Ultimately, we were unable to agree on a construct that preserved the benefits of the partnership we envisioned, made sense operationally or financially, or was consistent with the travel rewards and co-branded card business objectives that are so important to our strategy and our customers.
Looking ahead: We remain intently focused on and are competing aggressively in New York and Boston, and we are committed to enhancing our customer proposition in the Northeast. Over the past year, we have added more than 20 new routes from LGA and JFK using the slots returned to us after the NEA ended. Together with our partners, this summer we will offer New York travelers more than 250 daily nonstop flights to 100 markets around the world – from two exceptional terminal facilities, including the best lounges in our system. At JFK, we continue to improve connectivity by co-locating at T8 with our partners, including British Airways, Iberia, JAL, Qatar, and, as we recently announced, Alaska and Hawaiian.
The continued growth in AAdvantage enrollments in the region makes us confident that the New York market is sufficiently large and lucrative to support and value multiple competing networks. And of course, New York is a key business and leisure travel market for customers around the system, so we will also continue to optimize the “halo” effect for our network by providing convenient schedules to New York for travelers who live in cities throughout the U.S. and around the world.
We are proud to connect customers to more than 1,000 destinations around the globe, with an outstanding group of partners who share our belief that alliances are meant to provide customers with the experience they deserve and benefits they prefer. We will continue to build American’s network organically and through growth and investment in these partnerships.
One final note, in case you see it in the news. We filed a lawsuit against JetBlue today to recover money owed to American following the unwinding of the Northeast Alliance. We understandably tabled this claim while we were in discussions with JetBlue, but now that those conversations have concluded, we need to address the accounting and reconciliation following the termination of the NEA.
We don’t have a whole lot more information about why negotiations broke down, though I’d say that’s pretty significant. Based on how this is phrased, it sounds like JetBlue is the party that wasn’t willing to agree to terms, rather than American. Then again, this is an internal memo from American, and we don’t know what either party was proposing.
What does this mean for American & JetBlue?
American plans to continue its strategy of maintaining and growing its presence in New York. It’s anyone’s guess what that will actually look like, given how much the airline has struggled to succeed in New York on its own, and it still doesn’t seem to have a cohesive strategy. This gets at how United CEO Scott Kirby has said that he doesn’t think American can become a premium airline, because you need to be dominant in major markets to be successful, and American is just too far behind.
Were talks called off between JetBlue and American so that JetBlue could instead pursue something with United? The memo suggests so, given that “JetBlue was focused on different business priorities.”
We know that United is serious about some sort of a deal with JetBlue, given that Kirby views United leaving JFK as one of the carrier’s biggest mistakes. He clearly feels that having a presence in JFK is the key to overtaking Delta, and even said that with any possible merger activity, “I think the ball is going to be in JetBlue’s court.” Kirby is certainly saying the right things for someone looking to gain favor with regulators.
This is all speculation, but that’s my reading of the tea leaves. Who knows, though…
Bottom line
American claims that potential partnership talks with JetBlue have been called off. Of course the partnership between the two carriers ended a couple of years back, when a judge blocked the agreement. But there was nothing preventing the airlines from launching a more scaled back partnership, which could’ve still been mutually beneficial.
American isn’t willing to give up its JFK presence, but also seemingly isn’t able to grow its regional network there, to turn New York into a global hub. So it seems clear that American could benefit a lot from JetBlue. One certainly wonders what’s going on in the background here, and what this says about other conversations that JetBlue executives are having.
What do you make of this update?
That's because they're in merger talks. One poor airline trying to acquire another smh.
What it means is that AA's JFK/TATL strategy has failed. It needs to start using its JFK slots for more TATL traffic (instead of bone-headed PHL) and domestic routes. Just as Raja's revenue strategy failed, so has Znotins' network strategy.
They have 210 slot pairs (should be enough for 105 daily flights) yet fly ~80-100 flights daily at JFK. They can basically add a net new of 5-10 flights at JFK without any removals although there probably would be restrictions on what times those flights would be. Hopefully with the new B789Ps and A321XLRs there's more international TATL routes.
JetBlue is nearly dead. It needs help. If not American, then United or Alaska. Alaska is not going to bite so that leaves United. If JetBlue dies, it is Biden's fault. His people could have ok'ed it.
Trump has the ability to do something right now. He could pick up the phone right now. And, he's chosen not to.
Cultist
Terminal 6 at JFK will be coming online soon. And, it will have a direct connection to T5 which is JetBlue. Is JetBlue focused on teaming up with the foreign carriers that will occupy T6. JetBlue could provide domestic connects. Therefore, it’s in no hurry to run back into the arms of AA.
Pretty much this. United has so little presence in BOS, JFK, FLL that the B6 network is very complimentary.
And T6 is mostly non-alliance and Star Alliance carriers. Really the big players there will be the Lufthansa group and Cathay.
They could stay non-alliance but build some decent interline agreements with some of the Star partners.
Probably just AA posturing to get better terms. It makes too much sense for it to not happen.
Can someone explain what's going on with JetBlue and what exactly is their vision/strategy here?
How exactly did they collapse so hard in the past few years?
I would not like a UA/B6 tie-up as that is too monopolistic. And it's interesting that B6 has been partnering more with OW airlines like BA and JAL recently, there was even a recent fiasco where B6 was handing out JAL F awards like hotcakes
It felt like the Qatar, BA, and JAL ties (along with Hawaiian) were leaning to OW.
But they also added Icelandair and TAP recently, and Etihad last year. It feels more like they are just trying to go the old Alaska route of building a non-alliance interest in their loyalty program. The JAL tie is only for redemption. BA is only a limited partnership with no earn/burn possibilities.
I've wondered whether they would try to...
It felt like the Qatar, BA, and JAL ties (along with Hawaiian) were leaning to OW.
But they also added Icelandair and TAP recently, and Etihad last year. It feels more like they are just trying to go the old Alaska route of building a non-alliance interest in their loyalty program. The JAL tie is only for redemption. BA is only a limited partnership with no earn/burn possibilities.
I've wondered whether they would try to build a relationship with Condor, as that one has worked for Alaska.