During Tuesday’s JetBlue earnings call, the airline was asked about partnering with another airline, and they confirmed they’re actively having conversations.
So, we’re having conversations with a number of carriers right now to discuss the potential for future partnership. The judge in Massachusetts obviously laid out a framework that would be acceptable under at least the prior administration. So, you know, that’s what we’re looking at, but there’s nothing to announce.
American Airlines and JetBlue had a partnership that was approved by the last Trump administration, and broken up by the Biden administration. Both airlines have discussed openness to re-creating that partnership either simply because the Trump administration might be open to it again or because they recreate it along the lines of the American-Alaska West Coast Alliance that the judge in their anti-trust case said would be acceptable.
However, aviation watchdog JonNYC suggests that JetBlue is in conversations over a potential deal with United Airlines.
I have sources telling me UA is heavily looking at B6 — merger or buying assets or something else I’m not remotely sure at the moment.
— JonNYC (@xjonnyc.bsky.social) January 29, 2025 at 1:38 PM
JetBlue is a weak player in the industry. Spirit Airlines is in bankruptcy. A Trump DOT and Justice Department might look differently at combinations than its predecessor did. United dominates Newark, and with Delta combines to dominate New York but Newark also isn’t New York and is largely blocked from New York JFK – having walked away from its position there in 2015 (leasing its slots to Delta).
Surely there would be anti-trust concerns still over anything more than a small slot sale or lease package, but United is in a stronger position to do a deal than many and a combination in Boston together represent strength against an increasingly aggressive Delta. And United donated $1 million to President Trump’s inaugural and CEO Scott Kirby has made enthusiastic public statements about the new administration.
Rather than acquisition, failing airlines need to be closed down in an orderly manner and liquidated. Other airlines can buy the respective pieces they want (planes, gates, slots, etc.) on the open market.
It would definitely be a coup for UA to be able to get JetBlue’s JFK slots. A few extra gates at LAX wouldn’t be bad either, even though they are in T5. Perhaps UA could orchestrate a swap for some T6 gates so that they’re more convenient – even though both terminals are still connected airside. Boston is largely unnecessary for UA. The expanded Florida presence, like Continental and Eastern used to have, would also be beneficial to their route network.
first, EWR IS NYC from a DOT antitrust perspective. UA has marketed EWR as NYC for years.
second, UA would love to buy its way into either JFK or FLL; BOS would be icing on the cake.
But let’s also not forget that UA touts itself as the largest airline in the world.
As much as a lot of people want to believe otherwise, there is zero chance that UA could get more than a dozen or so slots to JFK= which might be all that want.
I can assure you, though, that if UA returns to JFK, DL will launch EWR-LAX service and it will be AA that will be hurt the most.
“Newark isn’t in New York” is ignorant nonsense. The statement is obviously technically true but then isn’t DFW in “Grapevine” and not actual Dallas nor Fort Worth?
EWR is closer to the richest parts of Manhattan–Tribeca, West Village, you know the neighborhoods where people who have money (and therefore can afford travel) actually live. EWR is the closest airport to Hudson Yards (midtown west) which is where 90% of the most lucrative firms are based these days. It’s actually remarkable to come across a top firm that is headquartered somewhere other than Hudson Yards.
LGA and JFK are closer if you live in Queens or Brooklyn, but do you know who lives in Queens and Brooklyn? Poors. We are in the year 2025 and there is no excuse to be poor in NYC today. But let’s say you are poor and rely on public transport. Well, EWR is an AirTrain plus NJTransit away from NY Penn Station. JFK is an AirTrain plus LIRR away. Same difference.
This would definitely make UA the largest airline. It would also be a game-changer in the NYC area. Oversupply. JFK T5 would be so different, too. We’ll see. Also, JonNYC is a saint. Well done.
I’d place my Bets with the new WN Board of directors making a play for JetBlue. Southwest has long struggled to gain a foothold in the northeast and south Florida. Buying JetBlue would leapfrog WN into a position it would take another 20 years to achieve organically. With Boeing on going delivery issues had pledged WN abilities to gain opportunities and drive up its ROIC. Let’s not forget JetBlue was started by a bunch of WN/Morris Air employees that basically used WN culture to model its own. Southwest Airlines NEW board of directors bring in a Vast amount experienced and expertise on Running a multi fleet airline operations. Someone that hampered WN during its AirTran acquisition. WN already jettisoning its original formula to become a new Seat assignments Even More Leg Room premium offering Airline. So Buying the Airline that Started the EML seating craze would on Further Evolve WN into a world wide player. The JetBlue market share and code share synergies are 3 times more lucrative than what they achieved by buying AirTran.
JetBlue has always struggled to gain market share east of the Mississippi and WN struggled along the eastern seaboard and South Florida. These Two networks would mash together quite nicely with very little overlap in general.
I hope this does not come to pass, as an frequent American customer – I would much rather see JetBlue team up with AA.
A merger seems highly unlikely but with the LH group moving into the new T-6 at JFK, a frequent flyer partnership and some codes shares would make a lot of sense. UA could get access to JFK and more BOS/FLL options through code shares there. B6 could gain more access through SFO/LAX with code shares on United. Add in a frequent flyer partnership and that would be great for people in NYC/BOS/South Florida and California.
If this is true it be highly misguided choice by the DOJ and DOT to ok this deal. The best combination in New York City is an AA and JB partnership, which together would be roughly the size of United and delta individually, and put downward price pressure on airfare in NYC.
BOS and FLL can be managed through concessions.
AA would be dumb to not attempt to acquire B6.
IF this happens, the entire Board of Directors and CEO of AA need to resign. First they let LATAM slip away to Delta, and now JetBlue (who was supposed to join OneWorld at some point) to United? Man, Scott Kirby is lime an Ex-girlfriend that is out to get AA, and badly.
let’s not forget that, just because UA is salivating over B6 and its assets doesn’t mean that B6 is all interested in selling – or should.
If B6 starts selling off key assets, they are finished and they would have to get enough money to effectively wind down the company even if UA doesn’t ask for or pay for all of the assets.
UA execs have been trash-talking the LCC and ULCC sector every earnings release for years.
Ironically, F9 has the most overlap with UA and yet F9 is the carrier that could be an acquirer while NK, which has more overlap with AA and DL, is the one in chapter 11
one more thing. DL did a fairly extensive analysis regarding an acquisition of UA while UA was in bankruptcy. Anyone can talk about acquiring someone else’s assets but that doesn’t mean it will become reality, even if it moves toward a formal proposal.
United wanted back in at JFK for quite some time now. This is a way to do that.
@Johnny
Guess you missed the last few yrs where the DOJ blocked your suggestion.
@ Gary — I predicted that these 2 would merge many years ago. It would be the best way for UA to get JFK gates/slots. Tim can whine about how unfair this is to Delta, but as I’ve pointed out many times, things change. Delta’s reign at the top is OVER!
I would love to see UA return to JFK
For @Tim… I don’t remember how many eons ago this was, but there was a time that UA and DL partnered. I think DL flights counted for Mileage Plus. It may have been as far back as the 1980’s, so different times. Definitely before DL acquired NW.
Carl,
Yes, DL and UA once cooperated precisely because DL saw value in UA’s TPAC system and its ORD hub.
Ultimately, DL went with NW and gained the DTW and MSP hubs that gave DL the largest position in the Midwest even if the Tokyo hub did not work out.
UA preceded DL in chapter 11 by quite some time and it was precisely because of what was learned during the codeshare operation.
Gene,
it has nothing to do with what it does to DL.
It is insane to think that AA can’t have a JV partnership with B6 but UA can buy any significant assets.
It is not the DOJ’s job to bend over and screw consumers because of UA’s strategic failures that include pulling out of JFK as well as failing to develop a decent network in Florida.
It is amazing that UA touts its global network and yet is about #6 in Florida.
I guess all the time salivating over Mongolia caused UA to lose sight at Florida which is an immensely larger market.
oh, and Gol and Azul want to merge in Brazil but that doesn’t mean it will happen without significant concessions.
Governments aren’t as dumb as some think and the Trump administration is not just gonna roll over and allow consumers to be screwed for the benefit of a single company that failed to plan.
And DL also contributed to Trump’s inauguration festivities.
@Tim
‘ I can assure you, though, that if UA returns to JFK, DL will launch EWR-LAX service and it will be AA that will be hurt the most.’
Didn’t your mother tell you that the Ouija Board is not reliable way to predict the future (in this case Delta’s actions)?
Please yes let me fly DCA BOS on UA instead of having to rot away at Penfed international
Jon
DL and UA do well because they largely stay out of each other’s way. They have their separate strength markets while UA is clearly trying to push the limits.
If UA really thinks it can unilaterally rework the relationship, I can assure you that DL will respond. Strongly.
And let’s not forget that DL is still in better financial position – and Wall Street will not take kindly to UA deciding to pick a fight with DL.
I wouldn’t expect anything any different if DL decided to start EWR-LAX or SFO-ICN without UA doing something.
Seriously, though, don’t get all worked up about this.
Of course UA is salivating at picking up assets from weaker carriers to fix its strategic failures and is probably furiously preparing powerpoint documents talking about how great it will all be.
That still doesn’t mean that B6 intends to sell. Or, even if they do, the DOJ would ever approve anything.
It’ll be Southwest for the win. They overlap with jetblue on only 7% of flights. They’ve planned it that way.
My guess is that this a play for the Florida and Caribbean markets — which is a market United doesn’t have a hub in.
Also they may want a stronger NY presence at JFK would be the Star Alliance feeder traffic there from Lufthansa, Air Canada,TAP, Ethiopian, Swiss etc.
Theres no way DOT would allow UA to buy B6. Like others daid UAL and DAL are already dominant in NYC. AA is the weakest and would be the airline that would make most sense for a consumers competitive sense. UA and B6 together would have way to much of a market share of BOS and NYC. Talking about B6 in general is unique because they are uniquely operating out of these two locations and arent very big anywhere else.
The absolute hopium LMAO @Tim Dunn – it’s obvious that a merger will not be allowed without significant concessions if this rumor even ends up becoming true which I myself doubt. But DL can do all it wants adding EWR-LAX or SFO-ICN, if UA can get even 50% of B6’s JFK slots it will be the dominant airline in NYC by a distance. It already is America’s leading airline internationally, the largest airline to the Atlantic and dominates the Pacific by a massive margin – this could make UA the clear leader to the Atlantic and create a gap between it and DL to cement a #2 and compete w/ AA for #1 to LATAM and Caribbean w/ FLL. Wall Street loves what UA has done – its stock has had 2x the returns of DL in the last year.
Plus, DL would get its clock absolutely whomped on those routes on EWR-LAX and SFO-ICN as you very well know, so unless DL wants to hemorrhage money it would absolutely stay away from those. The very reason why a simple merger would not get approved between B6 and UA would be if it did happen to go through, DL and AA would be in a bad shape to respond and a major competitive disadvantage – that’s not going to happen.
From a route-network perspective, an AA+JetBlue would make more sense, because AA largely walked away from JFK (to build up PHL).
However, JBU should be cautious about subjecting their customers to the “inferior” premium AA experience. On the other hand, AA premium customers may be delighted to experience JBU’s Mint product … either way, it’s an asymmetrical relationship.
Now, United on the other hand, has better premium experiences, so JBU + UA, are closer to being on par.
An outright merger is out of the question for JBU with either legacy carrier. Even if DOJ allowed it, there are not enough flight numbers to go around … UA-10001 or AA-10001, anyone, LOL! United’s mainline fleet would exceed 1300 planes and AA would not be far behind!
The logical choice for United is to do a long term reciprocal “slot leasing swap” for, let’s say, 20 to 30 slot pairs with JetBlue at JFK and EWR, and pursue a domestic/transatlantic ATI (anti-trust immunity) agreement. Both would win because United would regain the ability to have transcon flights from JFK to SFO + LAX. UA might even be able to reinstate JFK flights to LHR (cooperating with JBU of course), and pursue TATL flights to some subset of combinations to Lufthansa Group hubs (FRA, MUC, BRU, ZRH, and future hubs such as FCO and MXP). And JBU would win by gaining slots to feed United at EWR, as well as, codeshare access to cities in the interior of Europe that are hard to reach due to winter headwinds on the A321LR.
@ All who say “it won’t be allowed” — Have you forgotten there was a change in administration? The highest gratuity wins! I don’t recall Ed being at the Candlelight Ball….
This will be great. United could pull out of JFK for the fourth time.
Let all the cards fall…in the End…Delta buys almost BK AA…& becomes the new Global giant as Delta is ment to be as the priemer U.S. carrier.
Most realistic is a few JFK slots for UA to offer SFO and LAX service, a frequent flyer partnership, and maybe JB joins Star (but not the LH JV). It would be a win-win for both without a lot of competitive overlap concerns. JetBlue fliers suddenly get access to the whole US and world on a partner. UA gets BOS, east NYC, and South Florida JB fliers who’d use UA to get where JB doesn’t go. UA also gets another Latam hub at FLL to complement IAH and compete with AA at MIA (*that* might be a JV). And together they’d clearly be the alliance-of-choice for NYC fliers. I could certainly see a lot of east NYC fliers choosing JB domestically and schlepping to EWR for international on UA. Just say no to SkyPesos! 😉
I think that UA and B6 have been in talks for years. As a retired UA employee I remember when UA went and painted all its planes with the blue and white paint scheme just like B6. Also I was informed that the new international terminal in MCO was paid by UA and B6. The person that gave me the information actually seen the blueprints with UA and B6 on them. These talks go on for years before the employees even realize it. Back in 2008 while working for CO at EWR I met a UA pilot who asked if I heard anything about a merger between CO and UA, I said no why. He went on to say that he’s been seeing a lot of CO directors at the UA headquarters in ORD. We all know what happen in May 2010, the CO and UA merger was announced.
Gary, why do you continue to let Ed Bastian post under the pen name of Tim Dunn?
jeremy,
as usual, you launch into a “we dominate the world” based on a rumor that is highly unlikely to become reality – but you run with it because your self-esteem is wrapped up in UA’s success.
Tory’s guess is the most likely if anything happens. UA wants to get back into JFK but if B6 starts giving its assets away, it seals its fate.
And UA is not going to be able to do a JV with B6 any more than AA could – and the NEA between AA and B6 was shot down.
that means UA and B6 would be competitors in a market that is probably one of B6′ best performers. There is no rational reason why B6 would give UA access to JFK and open a flood gate of competition – which is what would have to happen – just so that B6 could join Star.
funnier things have happened but it all still comes down to UA’s desperation to get back into JFK and UA’s hope – along w/ that of many of its fankids – that UA will succeed at taking prime industry assets away from players that have them when UA was stupid enough (even if under a different administration) to walk away from those assets.
and, no, jeremy, there is no planet where UA would be able to buy all of B6’s JFK slots as much as you will go to bed tonight dreaming that will happen.
B6 JFK assets have Kirby salivating! He’s wanted this NYC trifecta since his first days at UA! I love the “NEW” LGA – but it lacks a direct subway connection. That can also be said about EWR/JFK – the only saving grace about the latter 2 is the connection is not a BUS!
The only way to make money into JFK – is with cargo! UA downgraded the JFK fleet into 757-200s and that was the demise of JFK. JFK customers want cheap fares – and UA wants business flyers to subsidize those cheap seats – problem was UA discounted the walk-up biz fares to all the major entertainment industry – at 49%! No money in that deep of a discount. DL and AA never matched that big of a discount.
honestly none of this matters in light of the crash at DCA
@Dick, you made me lol.
LGA and JFK are closer if you live in Queens or Brooklyn, but do you know who lives in Queens and Brooklyn? Poors.
United just took delivery of their 1,000th active aircraft.
Other than slots, there’s really nothing that JetBlue would bring to the table that United couldn’t accomplish on their own.
American will undoubtedly be very pre-occupied for the next few weeks. Godspeed to the crew and passengers on both aircraft involved.
What is the prediction for NK?
“This could happen or that could happen. I am not even remotely sure.”
Go home brah. You’re drunk.
From my understanding, it seems that AA and JB had previously entered into a mere “codeshare partnership”, but they cooperated in ways that smelled like a JV with ATI (anti-trust immunity) … in other words, they coordinated with each other along the lines of, “we’ll serve the city pair, JFK-XXX”, and “why don’t you serve the city pair, JFK-YYY” to crossfeed traffic, but such coordination is a no-no when an ATI is absent!
It seems it is this that contributed to the partnership’s.downfall … I mean to say that if they had formally sought a JV with ATI, followed by approval from the government, then they would have had some legal recourse.
Given how late the NEA was conceived, it was probably too late in the waning days from Trump Administration #1 to seek and receive JV-ATI approval. But if they had sought JV-ATI much earlier, it may have been granted.
Just my two cents!
@brian
No. It was not a simple codeshare. It was a DOT approved ability to coordinate absent full JV
It was the first time something between a JV and codeshare had been attempted by a large carrier
the NEA WAS a joint venture that involved schedule coordination and revenue sharing.
The DOJ, which has sole authority for approving airline mergers, said those elements were benefits that come from a merger and were a bridge too far for the NEA.
As much as people want to hang their hat on the legality of the NEA because the DOT approved it, the NEA was clearly a handslap of the DOT by the DOJ
as for this whole idea of UA’s involvement with B6, let’s still keep in mind that UA can do all of the analyzing they want but it takes B6 to come to a deal.
It has always been far more likely that AA and B6 would come up w/ another partnership ala AA/AS that is allowed and that UA is simply trying to jump in to disrupt such a deal.
My hunch is that JetBlue can play the we must be acquired to survive card the DOJ and in they might be correct. UA sensing they might lose out to particularly AA, AS or WN is striking first.
It would be a very complimentary and briliant acquisition by UA if it happened. Look at what it does: UA gets strongholds at JFK, BOS and FLL – three big markets; the latter two in regions where UA isn’t well represented right now. UA would LOVE to have a Florida hub and being strong in both EWR and JFK basically brackets the NYC metro. Lastly, UA would gain dominance at BOS which is a very lucrative market. They could grow quite a bit of TA service from there, including daytime flights. BOS is a natural stopping off point on the way to Europe. And……UA would get a bunch of A321s and A220s which would be great assets going forward.
They should really try to do this.
B6 needs a path to an alliance. I don’t think UA could buy B6. There could be an asset swap. But B6 has a clear path: they have a massive presence in the Caribbean (25% of Aruba, for example). They desperately need to make their points worth something. they just added the TAP partnership and launched a (bad) premium card. It is clear that they want to build relationships, and I think they don’t want to wait on American to help them out.
Anything and everything that someone else has looks appealing when you view life from the perspective of your own deficiencies and what the failure of others can do for you which is precisely the way United has viewed the industry at least since covid.
UA execs have talked incessantly about the failed business strategies of other sectors even while droning on about the capacity they need to add in order to overcome their much smaller size in the domestic market than AA, DL and WN.
The real questions that should be asked are:
1. Why did UA ever have an exec that, not only thought it was a good idea to walk away from JFK but negotiated a slot swap with DL that not only made DL larger but allowed DL to continue with their side of the transaction to grow at JFK even after the DOJ shot down UA’s attempt to grow larger at EWR which ultimately factored into the decision to remove slot restrictions at EWR?
2. How did United, even 15 years after the CO merger, managed to be so focused on adding 3 weekly summer seasonal narrowbody service to places like Mongolia and still end up as the smallest of the big 4 airlines in Florida and smaller than some of the low cost and ULCCs over which UA drools?
As for the oft-repeated internet myth that loves to call DL’s interior hubs as monopolistic, UA fans neglect that UA’s market share in EWR, IAD and SFO is as large if not larger than DL in ATL, DTW, MSP and SLC with the size of those 3 markets larger than the combination of DL’s interior US hubs.
When B6 indicates what it intends to do with any overtures from any carrier for a partnership, we might have a story. But there is every reason to believe that AA and B6 will come up w/ some renewed, legal type of partnership rather than merger and UA will have to deal with its network deficiencies by growing organically rather than rooting for the failure of other carriers for UA’s benefit.
@Neal Z
UA already has the lease at T6 through the CO/UA merger. Currently, the gates are mostly sub-leased to AS, with AC having a couple. Having T5 gates might be an incentive for AS – considering their alliance with AA.
Would AS receive enough gates for their ops – including HA’s ops and a couple of needed wide-body gates?
AS wouldn’t need a club – just rely on AA’s club at T5.
The risk for AS is that their partnership with AA could unravel – as it did with DL. AS would need to build out a club at LAX – most likely takeover a gate or two.
Personally, I like AS’s set-up at T6 – even though it’s a long walk from AA’s gates at T4 & T5 and the Eagle’s nest for connections.
SO_CAL_RETAIL_SLUT
@SO_CAL_RETAIL_SLUT
Wishing you and yours safety and recovery following those awful fires.
@SO_CAL_RETAIL_SLUT, I remember when UA used those T6 gates after the CO/UA merger. For some reason, I thought that they had to divest themselves of those gates in T6, but I could certainly be wrong about that. I hadn’t realized that they were just leasing them to AS.
And yes, moving AS from T6 go T5 makes good sense, assuming that AA and AS maintain their relationship. I know that a chunk of AA’s space at LAX is about to undergo major renovation, disabling several gates, so that’s a further complicating factor.
Some of the earlier comments about whether EWR is a New York airport strike me ignoring the realities of travel here. For those coveted wealthy Manhattanites and Manhattan workers, the question of LIRR/Airtrain vs NJ Transit/Airtrain questions is irrelevant. They (we) overwhelmingly take taxi cabs or Uber/Lyfts etc. And the problem with Newark is the incredibly long delays at busy times getting into the Lincoln and Holland tunnels. Beyond that, for flights up to 1500 miles (plus Denver), LGA is a stone’s throw from Manhattan. Newark is OK, but not a terribly desireable alternative most of the time. And as to the earlier poster who referenced the poors in Brooklyn and Queens, I guess the poster missed the incredible renaissance in Brownstone Brooklyn and Williamsburgh as well as the rapid luxury high rise developments in Long Island Cityl,