JetBlue Seeks Partnerships to Compete With Larger Airlines

JetBlue is reportedly discussing potential partnerships with multiple airlines after judges blocked its planned purchase of Spirit Airlines in 2024 and its partnership with American Airlines in 2023.

“If we find a deal that’s accretive, we’ll absolutely do it,” JetBlue President Marty St. George said Wednesday (Feb. 19) at a Barclays conference, CNBC reported.

The airline aims to form partnerships and deals in order to grow and compete with larger carriers, according to the report.

Speaking at the conference about JetBlue’s previous partnership with American Airlines, St. George said: “When I look at the benefits that we got from the partnership we had, I think that’s something that’s attractive for us,” Reuters reported Wednesday.

The Justice Department under the Biden Administration won a court battle to block that deal, arguing that the partnership hurt consumers by reducing competition, per the report.

Then-Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said in a November Department of Justice press release: “Today’s decision is a hard-won victory for the millions of Americans who count on competition between airlines to fly affordably, whether to visit family, go on vacation or travel for business. The airline industry — like every industry — must comply with the antitrust laws that protect consumers and prohibit anticompetitive coordination.”

JetBlue CEO Joanna Geraghty said in April that demand trends in the airline’s core geographies and customers have changed immensely since before the pandemic.

“Many of these changes played to JetBlue strengths,” Geraghty said during the company’s April earnings call. “For instance, leisure travel remains an increasing priority for customers, and there is no longer the same divide between corporate and leisure travel as more people can take advantage of the ability to work from anywhere.”

In July, JetBlue said it was focusing on its East Coast leisure routes as it worked to return to profitability, emphasizing flights in and out of New York, Puerto Rico and New England.

“Our network sits in some of the most valuable geographies in the world,” Geraghty said during a July earnings call. “We have a leading position and three of the five largest markets on the East Coast, including New York City, which is the highest GDP producing metro area in the United States.”