JetBlue Airways Corp will defer $3bn in spending on new aircraft through 2029 in a sweeping plan by its new chief executive officer to restructure operations and return the beleaguered carrier to profitability.
\nThe airline increased to 15 the number of cities where it\u2019s ending service, and has cut more than 50 routes to trim unprofitable flying from its network, it said as it reported second-quarter earnings on Tuesday.
\nJetBlue said it renegotiated its delivery schedule with Airbus SE in order to defer 44 A321neo aircraft originally scheduled for delivery from 2025 through 2029, expanding an earlier plan to push out spending on new planes. Those jets now won\u2019t arrive until 2030 and beyond.
\nThe carrier\u2019s shares jumped as much as 10% in New York trading, their biggest intraday gain since February 13.
\nThe moves are the latest by Chief Executive Officer Joanna Geraghty in a push to boost pretax income by as much as $900mn in the face of persistently high costs and diminished growth prospects following the breakup of multiple partnerships.
\nGeraghty took over for Robin Hayes early this year. She is working under scrutiny from activist investor Carl Icahn, who in February revealed a roughly 10% stake and began pushing to boost shareholder value. The company has since given his investment firm two board seats.
\nGeraghty has said her top priority is returning to consistent profits, which the carrier hadn\u2019t seen since 2019. The company on Tuesday reported adjusted earnings of 8 cents a share for the second quarter, topping Wall Street expectations for a loss.
\nAt the same time, the carrier said it expects lower revenue and higher non-fuel unit costs than analysts were expecting this quarter and for the full year.
\nThe airline is now re-focusing its network on leisure customers in New York, New England, Florida and Puerto Rico, areas where it historically has had strong operations. The company expects the change, along with improvements in on-time performance and other areas, to produce between $800mn and $900mn in additional in pretax profit from 2025 through 2027.
\nJetBlue is facing the added challenge of growing without the benefit of acquisitions after federal courts struck down a regional alliance with American Airlines Group Inc and blocked JetBlue\u2019s planned $3.8bn takeover of Spirit Airlines Inc. \u2013 Gulf Times<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
JetBlue Airways Corp will defer $3bn in spending on new aircraft through 2029 in a sweeping plan by its new chief executive officer to restructure operations and return the beleaguered carrier to profitability. The airline increased to 15 the number of cities where it\u2019s ending service, and has cut more than 50 routes to trim …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16026,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":null,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"default","_twitter_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type":"default","_pinterest_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"default","_medium_share_type":"","_threads_share_type":"","_google_business_share_type":"","_selected_social_profile":null,"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[96,98,102,88],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16025","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aviation-world","category-companies","category-featured-en","category-flights"],"yoast_head":"\n