JetBlue Airways (B6, New York JFK) has urged the United States government to reform airport access rules and regulatory policies so it can attain coveted airport slots and better compete with the country's 'big four' airlines.
“With four carriers that carry the bulk of the domestic market share, you have to start creating policies to increase competition. You’ve got to enable us to grow. The only way to do that is policies that give new entrants the same access,” JetBlue chief executive Joanna Geraghty told Bloomberg during a US Chamber of Commerce aerospace summit in Washington.
The airline is optimistic, she said, that there can be changes under President Donald Trump’s administration, including the US’s ability to hold foreign governments to the terms of existing Open Skies agreements. JetBlue recently said it may pursue legal action against Portugal because the authorities of that country are denying it authorisations to operate at Lisbon.
Business model tweaks
Geraghty also said the current year had been challenging for JetBlue’s recovery, but the company is better positioned now than low-cost competitors trying to attract premium travellers and is increasingly focused on its transatlantic network.
“Some of the carriers that are known for much lower cost and a more reduced customer experience are struggling to try to get more premium customers on board. JetBlue always has had a great customer experience,” she said.
On the transatlantic market, JetBlue’s president, Marty St. George, said the company is “very, very bullish about how the Atlantic has done,” and that the airline would like to obtain more Atlantic connectivity as quickly as possible.
“That balance of good sun markets in the winter and then European markets in the summer and fall, it's made for a very, very good profit portfolio for us,” he said.
Into Spirit territory
JetBlue is expanding service in the key markets of Spirit Airlines, which is currently under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, and is offering nine new nonstop routes from Fort Lauderdale International, connecting it with Cali, Aruba, Cartagena Rafael Núñez International, Grand Cayman Island, Guanacaste, New Orleans International, Pittsburgh International, San Pedro Sula, and St. Maarten. These routes will be launched in November.
United Airlines recently did the same, saying it was adding flights to 15 cities to support a possible Spirit collapse.
ch-aviation data shows JetBlue’s fleet comprises fifty-two A220-300s, 130 A320-200s, sixty-three A321-200s, twenty-eight A321-200NXs, and eleven A321-200NX(LR)s.
