Topline
Shares of JetBlue saw their biggest daily percentage gain since February on Tuesday, soaring as much as 20% as the airline posted a better-than-expected quarterly revenue, returning company shares to a three-month high.
JetBlue said it will eliminate 50 underperforming routes and boost coverage in the Northeast, … [+]
Key Facts
Shares of JetBlue, the fifth-largest airline in the country, ascended to over $7 per share as of 11:30 a.m. Tuesday morning, up about 18%, marking the company’s best day—by percentage—on Wall Street since Feb. 12.
JetBlue reported $2.43 billion in operating revenue in the three months ending June 30, a slight decrease from the $2.61 billion it pulled in over the same three-month period last year, though narrowly higher than its anticipated $2.4 billion, according to estimates.
The company also reported a quarterly profit of $25 million, down 82% from last year ($138 million), after the airline was projected to take a loss on the quarter.
JetBlue also said it will cut 50 unprofitable routes to focus on service in New England, New York, Florida and Latin America, estimating those changes will add $800 million to $900 million in pretax profit through 2027.
The New York-based company known for its heavy Northeast presence also announced in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing it will defer roughly $3 billion of spending through 2029, which the airline says will boost cash flow.
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Tangent
JetBlue has taken several hits in recent years as the airline looks to expand. In May 2023, federal prosecutors hit JetBlue with an antitrust lawsuit to block its planned $3.8 billion acquisition of discount airline Spirit Airlines, with prosecutors claiming the merger would “eliminate the unique competition that Spirit provides.” A federal judge blocked that merger in January, sending Spirit’s shares on a rapid descent, falling over 60% on the day. JetBlue also lost its revenue-sharing partnership with American Airlines last year, when a federal judge blocked the three-year-old partnership that aligned the two airlines at airports in Boston and New York.
Contra
While airlines have over the past two years returned from Covid-era doldrums, they were sidelined once again earlier this month, when a CrowdStrike glitch sparked a worldwide Microsoft outage, leaving thousands of flights delayed and canceled and passengers stranded at airports around the world. In just a matter of hours, over 500 flights in the U.S. were canceled, and by 5 p.m. EST that day, the number of canceled flights in the U.S. skyrocketed to over 2,600, according to data from flight tracking site FlightAware.
Further Reading
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