JetBlue is clearly planning some significant capacity cuts in late summer and early fall, to the point that the airline is offering to pay hundreds of pilots to volunteer not to fly.
In this post:
JetBlue’s offer for pilots who volunteer to stay home
I recently wrote about how JetBlue is offering flight attendants unpaid leave for the coming months. This comes as the airline plans to reduce its flying schedule for the fall due to industry overcapacity, plus the airline is cutting staffing on some transatlantic flights.
Unsurprisingly, it’s not just flight attendants who are being asked not to work, but also pilots. However, pilots are being offered a much sweeter deal. @xJonNYC reports how JetBlue is offering pilots 50-hour no fly lines for their September bidding, with this being available to over 500 pilots.
For context, pilots at JetBlue are paid by the hour, and they can ordinarily fly up to 1,000 hours per year, which averages out to ~83 hours per month. However, most pilots don’t fly quite the maximum, so pilots are ordinarily guaranteed pay for 70-75 hours per month.
With these no fly lines, pilots can bid to be paid for 50 hours to just stay home. In other words, pilots would get about two-thirds of their usual pay, while not actually having to do anything.
JetBlue currently has roughly 5,000 pilots, so 500+ no fly lines suggests that JetBlue expects needing roughly 10% fewer pilots than usual for September. If this is being offered in September, I imagine we’ll likely see this in some other future months as well (probably not November or December, but maybe October, and definitely January and February).
This isn’t a great situation for JetBlue…
As I always say, the airline industry is incredibly challenging. Even under the best of circumstances, it’s low margin, it’s difficult to renegotiate labor contracts, fixed costs are very high, and it’s hard to adjust capacity to reflect demand.
While the “big three” US carriers have been doing okay, it’s a different story for other US airlines, which haven’t been able to capitalize on strong premium leisure demand, long haul demand, and lucrative credit card contracts related to frequent flyer programs.
JetBlue’s management team is doing everything it can to turn around the airline and cut costs while increasing revenue. I can appreciate the desire to cut capacity in hopes of airfare increasing, but that’s probably also not great for JetBlue’s bottom line:
- Paying pilots to stay home and not generate any revenue is bad for margins
- Not flying planes efficiently, and instead keeping some of them grounded, also isn’t great in terms of maximizing revenue
Now, it might still be the lesser of the evils here. But when you’re not making money in the first place, this probably isn’t going to exactly lead to profitability.
![](https://cdn.onemileatatime.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/JetBlue-Mint-A321-73.jpeg)
Bottom line
JetBlue is expecting to cut capacity in late summer and fall, as many airlines are. As a result, the airline has more flight attendants and pilots than it needs. In addition to offering flight attendants unpaid leave, the airline is also offering pilots roughly two-thirds of their usual pay to just stay home in September. JetBlue hopes that roughly 10% of pilots take advantage of that, which tells you just how deep the capacity cuts will likely be.
What do you make of JetBlue’s offer to pilots?
I would image many pilots would take a month or two at a reduced rate as long as their position on the seniority list is not hindered as well as their proficiency requirements. Another factor is their benefits package; will it be altered in any way?
Throughout maybe 80% of my last 20 years of working, I would've absolutely taken 2/3 pay for having two months off!
Yet another imminent sign of death for this abomination of an airline. Its end can't happen soon enough.
You're everywhere, maybe it's time to take a trip to the employment office?
Right.....
I love Jet Blue I feel safer than on other airlines! Flown all the other major airlines and always some problem!
@Lucky. This is a win/win. I’m surprised you don’t see the bigger picture
- pilot needs are fluctuating based on fleet grounding/delivery delays and yes seasonality of schedule
- Furloughing someone for a few months can be way more expensive than just offering reduced rate lines
- all airlines have reserves that don’t fly. JetBlue just doesn’t want to pay them 75 hours
500 lines … won’t be used. It will...
@Lucky. This is a win/win. I’m surprised you don’t see the bigger picture
- pilot needs are fluctuating based on fleet grounding/delivery delays and yes seasonality of schedule
- Furloughing someone for a few months can be way more expensive than just offering reduced rate lines
- all airlines have reserves that don’t fly. JetBlue just doesn’t want to pay them 75 hours
500 lines … won’t be used. It will be half of that.
This has been going on most the year. You’re late to the game Lucky!
This is nothing new…. These VILs were bargained for by the company last fall and resulted in contractual gains to the pilots. This allowed the company to flex staffing on a month to month basis to mitigate for delivery delays of the 220 and for the Pratt + W issues on the Neo which are expected to peak… you guessed it… this FALL !
It is a temporary issue. They have nearly 10% of their fleet grounded now. With new A220 deliveries coming, the E190s exiting, the engine issues resolved, and the older A320s restyled, they will have a much bigger fleet to fly in the coming months.
With DL graciously cutting their capacity by over 1,000 flights a day with no end in sight, B6 may need those pilots after all to handle all the extra business.
Man I would love to not work for 6 months over winter and still earn 2/3rds pay.
I'd be sunning myself on a nice warm beach somewhere cheap.
JetBlue's current management realizes they have to turn the business around; given that Joanne and others who are leading it now saw all of the money-losing things that they are now cutting, they were clearly not able to do what needed to be done because of Robin's decisions.
like WN, B6 will be fine because of their decent balance sheet but they have to stem the losses and the sheer timing of Robin's departure means...
JetBlue's current management realizes they have to turn the business around; given that Joanne and others who are leading it now saw all of the money-losing things that they are now cutting, they were clearly not able to do what needed to be done because of Robin's decisions.
like WN, B6 will be fine because of their decent balance sheet but they have to stem the losses and the sheer timing of Robin's departure means that it will be next spring before B6 has a hope of turning the corner with new growth - if it happens even then
Is it cutting money losing things, or just a recognition that airline profitability is seasonal/cyclical and capacity does not need to be surged in the fall/winter? 10% reduction in pilots doesn't seem like a major reduction, more of a refinement.
out of curiosity: Are pilots limited to doing this one or two months in a row, to maintain currency and stay out of the simulators?
I am hoping Jetblue can make it through it. I know they have Mint which hopefully will help their margins- something that Spirit and Frontier don't have. Jetblue needs to be prudent, trim wasteful flying, stick to their strengthens (NY/Boston - FL/Meixco/Carribean/CA) and continue on. Really hoping marty st George brings back the magic to Jetblue that they need.
Thank goodness Jetblue did not get affected by the IT meltdown, they literally cannot afford...
I am hoping Jetblue can make it through it. I know they have Mint which hopefully will help their margins- something that Spirit and Frontier don't have. Jetblue needs to be prudent, trim wasteful flying, stick to their strengthens (NY/Boston - FL/Meixco/Carribean/CA) and continue on. Really hoping marty st George brings back the magic to Jetblue that they need.
Thank goodness Jetblue did not get affected by the IT meltdown, they literally cannot afford to. While I don't wish anyone bad fortune, maybe Jetblue got some additional revenue from Delta customers stuck in NYC and Boston?
JetBlue has been offering VIL (voluntary incentive lines) for several months. This is not something new.