Business JetBlue explores potential merger partners

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JetBlue has tapped advisers to assess the viability of selling itself to a rival airline, and has specifically scenario-planned how a deal with United Airlines, Alaska Airlines, or Southwest Airlines might fare in Washington, according to people familiar with the matter.

JetBlue has been on a turnaround mission since its deal to acquire Spirit Airlines was blocked on antitrust grounds in 2024. Its shares are down by more than 40% since the beginning of last year. The company, which won fans with perks like free WiFi, has struggled to keep up with higher-end carriers like United and Delta, while losing discount-seeking customers to Spirit and Frontier.

A merger of two of the country’s six biggest airlines would receive close antitrust scrutiny, even in Trump’s Washington, which appears wide open to consolidation. But deals are getting done, often with a boost from MAGA-connected lobbyists whose activities have drawn criticism from progressives and populist Republicans.

JetBlue’s M&A planning is preliminary and the airline could decide not to pursue talks with any of its rivals, the people said. It couldn’t be determined whether JetBlue had held discussions or received indications of interest.

JetBlue declined to comment on internal discussions. “We’ve made meaningful progress on our multi-year JetForward strategy and are focused on executing the plan,” a spokesman said. “We’re confident JetForward is the right strategy to restore profitability and create value for our shareholders and opportunities for our crewmembers.”

United and Southwest declined to comment. Alaska didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

United has long entertained the prospect of buying JetBlue, but remains disciplined on price, according to people familiar with the matter. United has been focused on achieving an investment-grade debt rating, which buying heavily indebted JetBlue would complicate. The two airlines already have a partnership that allows JetBlue customers to book some flights directly on United’s app, and vice versa, and redeem each other’s frequent-flier points.

“I think it’s a unique environment where M&A is possible,” United’s Chief Financial Officer Michael Leskinen said at an industry conference last month. “We’ll see how that plays out, but I do think that this industry would benefit from some.”

JetBlue shares rose 12% Wednesday after this story was published.

JetBlue is the weakest link among the major US airlines. It has lost billions since its last profitable year, in 2019. Its major hubs — New York City’s John F. Kennedy airport and Boston’s Logan airport — are among the most expensive airports to operate in, and JetBlue has struggled to compete with Delta’s deep network and loyal, premium members. Activist investor Carl Icahn, who appears to be underwater on his roughly 10% stake in JetBlue, has been pushing CEO Joanna Geraghty to cut costs.

 

[UncleTusky]

More consolidation is always a bad thing but I can't think of a reason to fly JetBlue anymore, the cost + in-flight experience are + or - on par with Delta at this point. And at least with Delta I can fly places besides Boston, New York, and Florida.

Activist investor Carl Icahn, who appears to be underwater on his roughly 10% stake in JetBlue, has been pushing CEO Joanna Geraghty to cut costs.

Carl Icahn is scum, he bought TWA outright then looted it to the point the board booted him from the company even though he personally owned it. On the way out the door, he effectively pushed into bankruptcy by giving one of his other companies the near unlimited ability to buy and resell TWA tickets at well below market rates. He deserves to lose every dime.

 

[ScarletDevil]

>United
The least shitty choice, already partnered for point transfers
>Southwest
The sooner this company goes bankrupt the better. Fuck what they did to what was once the best domestic airline
>Alaska
Why?

 

[Robbyretard]

 

[UncleTusky]

Alaska
Why?

It is trying to build up its brand/network, including flights to Europe, and it has been on a buying spree for regional airlines (most recently Hawaiian). Acquiring Jetblue would fit into that by giving it an East Coast presence + landing slots in Europe overnight.

From a legal standpoint Alaska is too small and West Coast focused for anybody to raise antitrust concerns, that could be appealing to Jetblue execs after the Justice Department blocked the American partnership + Spirit acquisition. By contrast United would raise antitrust issues (if not from Trump then Delta and American) in NYC (if you count Newark Airport as an NYC airport United is already the largest carrier in the metro by a bit) and Southwest would raise them in Florida (mostly from American, Southwest is dominant in most of the state outside of South Florida and buying JetBlue would shrink that to 'outside of Miami'; Delta's modest presence in Florida makes it less likely to step in but it still could if it sees an easy way to get JetBlue's Fort Lauderdale gates or a threat to its small-but-growing presence in Tampa).

If you set litigation aside United seems like the least bad choice like you said, but JetBlue's losses are so big that selling today might really be that important.

This all assumes Alaska has a plan to make JetBlue profitable, the lack of overlap in network + fleet means a lack of synergies/easy savings that could be used to defray costs in the merged airline and any that do exist would be a drop in the bucket compared to JetBlue's recent string of losses. If I were Alaska's CEO I'd probably say 'no' or 'we only want asset X, asset Y is worthless and the only way we're taking it is if you give us asset Z for cheap'.

ETA:

>Southwest
The sooner this company goes bankrupt the better. Fuck what they did to what was once the best domestic airline

JetBlue's trajectory is a mini-version of Southwest's, it was founded as a budget airline without all the nickel-and-diming you see on carriers like RyanAir and had no idea what to do when that model stopped working. The only difference is Southwest is large enough to have a captive audience in a bunch of cities + vulture capitalists willing to 'help' whereas JetBlue has neither. Its market share is under 30 percent in its hubs and it only has monopolies in cities that might not have air service otherwise (e.g. rural Maine).

ETA x2:

>United
The least shitty choice, already partnered for point transfers

Also the most likely to be neutered by litigation. Southwest's ability to do damage if it buys JetBlue is limited, even in Florida, due to its underwhelming financials + limited ability to do long-haul flights. Same in Boston + New York, plus those cities have high fixed costs (which favors airlines with more premium/first class seats, i.e. not Southwest, since those earn more revenue per flight).

United has none of those issues, which makes suing more attractive and defending against it more difficult. Even if the acquisition went through United might be forced to give up some of JetBlue's JFK gates (probably the assets it wants the most) as part of a settlement.