JetBlue is Now Run By Realists

The airline just wants to turn a profit... Any profit.

Dear readers,

JetBlue — an airline that has lost its way over the past five (or so) years — is finally acting like it is serious about a comeback. In the last three months, JetBlue removed one of the more inept U.S. airline CEOs in recent memory,¹ promoted Joanna Geraghty to CEO, and added two of the industry’s brightest commercial minds — Marty St. George, who has returned to the company now as president after a four-year exile; and Daniel Shurz, the new head of revenue, network and enterprise planning, who left Frontier last year when CEO Barry Biffle started chasing any revenue idea he could find.

But, oh boy. This team has a lot of work to do. JetBlue lost a remarkable $716 million in the first quarter on revenues of $2.2 billion. Take out special items — including Spirit-related merger costs (a whopping $530 million “-ish” in the first quarter), "voluntary opt-out opportunities" for some workers, and costs related to early E190 retirements — and JetBlue still reported an adjusted net loss of $145 million. On the bright side, Geraghty and CFO Ursula Hurley stressed that the airline was profitable in March, but we must ask: how can a leisure-oriented airline with hubs in New York, Boston, and South Florida not be profitable in March?²

The good news is that I sense JetBlue is finally run by realists who understand the gravity of the situation. On Tuesday’s first quarter earnings call, no executives wanted to talk about margin targets or give details on margin expansion. Instead, the goal is simply to have a positive margin. Anything, really.