Struggling JetBlue, whose founder warned could go bankrupt this year under a mountain of $9 billion in debt, is pulling back from two New York airports, as reported by aviation watchdog JonNYC.
The airline will close its flight attendant base at Newark, and its maintenance bases at Newark and New York LaGuardia. That’s clearly because they see themselves as having a smaller presence at each.
closing EWR Flight Attendant base and Tech Op Bases in EWR and LGA
— JonNYC (@xJonNYC) June 17, 2026
JetBlue, which is based at New York JFK, has said they have a hard time making money at LaGuardia because the airport costs them $40 per passenger.
They were supposed to grow at Newark, though, in fact it’s a key linchpin of their partnership with United Airlines. United gets back into New York JFK starting next year with JetBlue’s slots for up to 7 daily roundtrips, and in exchange JetBlue gets 8 timing slots at Newark. Put another way,
- JetBlue, which is based in New York, is scaling back New York (LaGuardia and Newark)
- And doesn’t see some of the strategic upside they’d hoped for with their United partnership.
They were willing to give up JFK slots to get more Newark access. Newark meant greater connectivity with new partner United. And they’re just not going to make a play for Newark because it’s a money-loser for them.
Back before JetBlue established Newark as a flight attendant base, they were shuttling crew over from JFK.
Flight attendants regularly had to check in at their New York JFK crew base before taking a rideshare out to Newark. Their union blasted the airline over crews paying “over $100” to get from New York to New Jersey late at night and then sitting on floors in cramped Newark crew areas when the airport operations melted down. (The price of an Uber was picked up by the airline, which made it an odd thing for the union to focus on other than the lack of a base being costly at a time they were growing service from the airport.)
It appears that JetBlue is leaning heavily into Fort Lauderdale now, where Spirit Airlines used to be based and where they’re now the undisputed largest carrier, even adding premium cross-country flying from the airport as JonNYC notes.
United, which has been speculated to be interested in acquiring JetBlue, suggests that’s off the table, at least without a prepackaged bankruptcy that would shed debt.
Less of a ‘retreats’ from the NYC-area, and more of a ‘fortifies itself at JFK’ (and FLL).
Too late, evil ones. The stink of Noo Yawk and the badge of shame that is “Noo Yawk’s Hometown Airline” are embedded in you and will remain forever.
The DOJ blocking the Northeast Alliance continues to look like a bad move (and was probably influenced by Delta and United lobbying instead of competitive concerns)
@O’Hare Is My Second Home — B6 is very much still HQ’d in NYC, and proud of it. Go Knicks!
(Hey, uh, a little unrelated, but, how the Bulls doin’ these days? Remind me, was it their fourth or fifth or sixth consecutive year missing the playoffs?)
jetBlue is dying right before our eyes!
was a great airline but the program sucked from the beginning
Mint was nice but lounges either didnt exist or were poor 3rd parties
Sad really sad as they were a star like Virgin America before Alaska ruined them
Lastly their pricing was always higher whenever I checked
@dwondermeant — Still a great airline (more legroom, live TV, free WiFi, better snacks), Mint is still nice, and now they do actually have their own lounge (JFK, soon BOS.) I think and hope they’ll turn this around.
@1990 B6 share and passenger volumes at JFK since 2022:
2022: 28.7% share (10.9M domestic + 4.8M international = ~15.7M passengers)
2023: 25.5% share (10.15M domestic + 5.65M international = ~15.8M passengers)
2024: 23.7% share (9.0M domestic + 6.0M international = ~15.0M passengers)
2025: 23.2% share (8.7M domestic + 5.8M international = ~14.5M passengers)
2026 YTD: 23.3% share (2.5M domestic + 1.7M international = ~4.2M passengers)
Throw out 2022 due to limited intl. carrier service + the NEA, but that’s a lot of share lost even since 2023. Compare that to DL and AA:
2023 -> 2025 share -> Jan-Apr ’26 LTM
DL: 30.0% -> 29.6% -> 30.0%
AA: 12.8% -> 11.9% -> 12.1%
That would be fine is B6 balanced that out share loss at JFK with gains elsewhere. But NYC share across EWR, JFK, and LGA from 2023 -> Jan – April 2026 YTD:
1. UA: 24.8% -> 25.8%
2. DL: 23.4% -> 24.4%
3. B6: 15.0% -> 12.0%
4. AA: 12.1% -> 12.6%
While each of the US3 have slightly grown in NYC, B6 has lost ~3% share and is now #4 in NYC. They’re losing their home market, and this is before their prior announced EWR cuts (and now additional cuts) and JFK slot sharing w/ UA is underway. B6 will likely lose another point or two of share in NYC likely mostly to UA due to its cuts at EWR as a result.
Hopefully the FLL build works, but make no mistake – NYC’s hometown airline continues to weaken in NYC including at JFK.
Source: https://www.panynj.gov/airports/en/statistics-general-info.html
@1990
Wow, one little championship and you’re ready to talk shit about the Bulls.
@Isaac M — Alright, credit where credit is due. Thank you, Minnesota Timberwolves for Karl-Anthony Towns.
JetBlue can get bent.
Their overall level of service has been on the decline for quite some time and now they’re ripping their passengers off by charging them to have the option of choosing a seat and then changing that seat on them at the last possible minute with no way to get your seat back.
Gate agents and phone operators are rude and condescending. All the hallmarks of an airline that’s about to crash.
@Mark — You sure you aren’t confusing jetBlue with Southwest?
@Jeremy — They’re just, umm, re-sizing!
*Insert whatever typical euphemisms would Tim use whenever something bad happens with Delta*
But, but… “load factor”
(Not a jetBlue-insider; just a fan.)
1990
I can’t help but notice that Jeremy has provided the statistics that confirm what I have said which is that B6 can’t successfully compete against DL… but the data also says that neither can AA.
that isnt as much of a surprise at EWR given how high UA’s market share is but it speaks volumes that DL is succeeding at taking out two competitors at JFK and even more at LGA.
but seriously, it is concerning from a consumer standpoint that NYC is increasingly becoming consolidated around DL and UA. NYC is less competitive than Chicago or LA
@1990 good for the Big Meow, happy for him.
While MSP is home now, most of my sports allegiances are with Chicago and that’s why I took offense.
@IsaacM — Don’t worry, everyone knows 90s Bulls are still the GOAT. (Maybe the GOAT of any sports team, any game, ever.) 6 championships, including two separate three-peats. (Yeah… Knicks had a 53 years drought. So… umm, 2079 is gonna be lit…)
If AA would get out of its own way it could make a credible case to the government that it’s the only one that should be the beneficiary of Spirit’s slots at LGA in order to promote competition with DL and UA in NYC. Sure they want an LCC to replace, but that’s not realistic. AA could take over Terminal A and make it their shuttle terminal to ORD/DCA/BOS – 6 gates for what, 25-30 flights a day? Spruce it up a bit, put one of those AC Provisions clubs in – it would be a huge hit including with @Gary who pines for the days of yore at LGA when you could be curb to gate in 2 minutes without having to walk.
As long as B6 is collapsing (and while I don’t like that it is, there’s no denying that it’s about to hit a debt wall it cannot recover from), having real competition among the Big 3 is what’s best for NYC.
Peter,
the entire genesis of the Northeast Alliance was the DOT’s attempt to come to an agreement with AA to use its JFK and LGA slots to FAA standards. UA failed to utilize its EWR slots to FAA standards so the FAA stripped EWR of slot controlled status. That wouldn’t work at LGA or JFK because DL has been utilizing its slots at FAA standards, and more recently, has been using AA and B6 slots that those two are not using.
AA and B6 combined only have as much share as DL does in NYC and AA has hubs at LGA and JFK alongside DL’s hubs at those two airports.
NYC has collapsed into a two airline duopoly with AA and B6 still holding onto their slots because they should have value. It is precisely because neither is able to really compete against DL that there is probably much less value than people realize.
B6 might file for bankruptcy and reject leases in the NE and be able to walk away from most if not all of its JFK slots; it is far less clear how AA will figure out how to use its LGA slots even as the FAA is trying to get an U/LCC to take over NK’s slots.
The likelihood is that the FAA and DOT will interfere to keep it from happening but NYC Is likely to collapse into a full duopoly between DL and UA
AA and B6 are proof of how hard it is to be the distant #2 in someone else’s hub. The fed’s intervention at ORD is keeping AA in the game because they can see what will play out if they allow the “free market” to work
The really bad news here is that every time we lose a competitor be it spirit or potentially Jet Blue the most predatory airline in America comes along which is Delta and holds passengers to choke point ripping off passengers more than ever before.
Unfortunately this business behavior is now being copied by others.
with reduced flights/schedules and competition lacking it’s a blood bath for consumers
It will also have a chilling effect on business success or failure
As one of many examples a coach ticket between a leisure destination like Las Vegas and say LA in the summer off season that was between 75/and 150 each way now 375 to 500 each way for the short flight
Can we really blame that all on the Trump war/oil prices?
@Tim Dunn – in fact the “genesis of the Northeast Alliance” was not “DOT’s attempt to come to an agreement with AA to use its JFK and LGA slots to FAA standards.” The genesis of the Northeast Alliance was Vasu Raja being put in charge of alliances after American lost LATAM to Delta, and Raja having realized that the airline’s diminished presence in the New York market was undercutting their ability to generate cobrand card spend. They ultimately put him in charge of overall revenue, and not just flight network, before Isom sacrificed him to keep his own job.
Gary.
the DOT started the conversation with AA about the underutilization of its JFK and LGA slots.
Vasu responded with the NEA proposal.
for those that argue that rejecting the NEA was a mistake by the DOJ, neither AA or B6 have been able to make NYC work; it is unikely to believe that the two combined would have had any different result.
For regulators, the real issue is how they manage more slots than can be profitably used at both LGA and JFK and EWR which is dominated by UA with 2/3 of the flights.
NYC is collapsing into a two airline market making it far more concentrated than Chicago or LA even though NYC is a larger market.
and regardless of what dw thinks, DL simply has figured out how to provide a level of service which people will pay for. DL hasn’t forcefully taken anything from anyone; people voluntarily give DL good money.
And DL grew to where it is NYC in a much more competitive environment than any other US market.
They’re putting on a clinic on how to destroy an airline. They already nuked their presence in LA by fighting with Long Beach over an unnecessary international terminal and rage quit an excellent airport they had complete dominance over because of it, and then screwing themselves by moving primary operations to LAX (where no one wanted it) instead of Ontario (where they had flexibility to grow with the airport and dictate some terms). Now they’re doing it in New York, too? Losing slots at JFK, giving up at Newark, etc etc. No one wants to fly with an airline that goes nowhere
@Tim Dunn – JetBlue was a solution to a different problem, but the two combined were absolutely working on credit card acquisitions. Two-thirds of AAdvantage elites in the NYC area were doing it on credit card spend.
and yet both AA and B6 couldn’t run a decent enough operation to be profitable.
AA might be closer than they have been in a long time but will probably be the biggest beneficiary of B6′ downfall – if it happens – not because of a partnership but because AA could compete against DL as second place- not unlike what they are doing at ORD – but 3 makes things a little crowded as they say.
and if AA makes a case for being a viable competitor in NYC – unlike they have been for the past, they might succeed at convincing the feds that there is no need for UA to return to JFK – which of course would result in DL adding transcon routes from EWR.
it’s all poker with real lives and lots of money at stake
@Tim Dunn – As someone who grew up in New York, I believe in my bones that “Newark is not New York” but realistically as an air travel market the two are simultaneously distinct but also compete directly with each other for many of the same passengers. American will never be ‘#2 behind Delta’ because United and Delta are the two large players and the airports are constrained – there is no way to grow outside of acquisition.
The way Raja used to frame it is that American is “too small to win, too big to walk away.” American isn’t a money-maker overall, but their cobrand is. The cobrand has falled as they moved away from relevance in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. They now expressly realize they have to be a force in the markets in order to win cobrand business. That’s one of the early lessons Kirby instilled in United, and a key force behind his domestic growth and upgauging strategy that he outlined in investor calls back ~ 2017.
@Gary Leff — You grew up in NY? So, did you root for the Knicks?? (We had an awesome parade today!)
Gary,
all of that is true except the part about Scott Kirby realizing what AA needed only to implement it at UA is simply false.
Everyone acts like everyone else did all of things that stopped Kirby from fixing AA and that is simply and patently false.
Kirby was part of the same group that mismanaged AA for years. He happened to have learned what it took to succeed – largely by learning from Delta (by his own words).
So, yes, AA walked away from NYC and paid the price in not being able to maximize its loyalty program but it has compensated partly for that by the size of its domestic operation elsewhere. DL gets as much out of its Amex relationship because they have focused so strongly on NYC as well as the rest of the US. and they are now going after LAX because they believe they have an advantage which no one else can match right now.
and, yes, I would agree with you that NYC is one market but it is effectively divided in two between NY and NJ and DL and UA can’t really “cross over” because each has dominated their own sides of the market.
The NY side is clearly larger so you can bet that DL is going to do everything it can to get as much of the slots that AA and B6 can’t use and allowing UA into JFK and growing in LGA isn’t the answer to increased competition.
But no one else seems credibly able to challenge DL on the NY side or UA On the NJ side.
AA might not be able to compete against DL even if B6 fails but the outcome will most certainly be that DL will be the one that gets larger and grows more than UA.
Stop charging for the first luggage and it’s a huge win … y’all be getting
So, uh, going back to my original point – AA has to do something a bit different to compete against DL/UA and win over high value business travelers and drive co-brand spend. So why not take over LGA TA, make it look nice and regal (the awesome WPA mural helps) and brand it something better than Coastliner or Shuttle and market it as the shuttle of yesteryear – show up 20 minutes before your flight and walk right onto the plane. “Flagship service connecting you to the places you go most – DC, Boston and Chicago. American means Business.” That has real value in a NY market, no?
@Jeremy is way OFF!!! JetBlue did 14 million in 2025. Gary…..Get a life. You could report this stuff different.. click bait non sense. Never gives the whole picture
Peter,
for one thing, DL did that and it didn’t really work… first, AA has a decent sized operation that won’t fit in the MAT; a split operation is more costly and second, you need to be able to offer some connections to/from the Shuttle and third, DL already dominates the BOS-LGA (the part that has greater potential to make money) while AA doesn’t even fly it hourly. Since DL has the larger operation at both LGA and BOS, they undoubtedly carry more traffic.
The terminal is not going to solve the problem.
and, remember that AA exited the Shuttle markets in favor of B6 but B6 couldn’t make them work; the chances are that AA doesn’t make much money certainly on the LGA-BOS market but has to fly it.
the problem for AA is that there are too many markets on its system that underperform – including ORD -and not enough where they get premium revenue.
@Tim Dunn you love to throw in your opinions that have little to no factual basis in between factual statements to try to pass off your hopes as having merit:
“You can bet that DL is going to do everything it can to get as much of the slots that AA and B6 can’t use and allowing UA into JFK and growing in LGA isn’t the answer to increased competition.”
“AA might not be able to compete against DL even if B6 fails but the outcome will most certainly be that DL will be the one that gets larger and grows more than UA.”
Neither of those has any factual basis – UA has grown just as much as DL has in NYC runway renovations + capacity restrictions at EWR.
UA is now entering JFK next year with 14 slot pairs from B6 – DL can want whatever, but this is out of their hands. As EWR’s restrictions continue to decline, it is almost certainly UA that will grow the most of any airline in NYC.
DL was blocked from a JV with WestJet unless it ceded WestJet’s LGA slots due to its slot count at LGA. Its share at JFK is about the same as it is at LGA. It is almost certain that DL will not be allowed to make further gains at LGA / JFK slots to maintain competition. If DL will want to grow in NYC, it will likely have to do so at EWR vs UA. Good luck with that.
@Tim Dunn – that’s not my position vis-a-vis Kirby at all, and I’ve written at length as such. He was President of American Airlines when they reduced business class seating on widebodies, signed off on the domestic narrowbody LOPA with insufficient main cabin extra and no seat back screens, etc. In fairness to him, he did want to compete for Los Angeles. I simply said that at United his 2017 started reason for domestic growth and upgauging was to gain credit card share.
Good, Gary.
Kirby very much missed the value of credit cards in the NYC market and allowed AA to become less and less relevant.
and, yes, Kirby realized the error of CO’s international heavy/domestic ignored strategy that still handicaps UA today relative to richer credit card deals at DL and AA.
If Kirby didn’t realize it while at AA, he simply chased a global network until after covid. It will now be much more challenging expanding domestically given that AA and WN are going to claw back the share they lost, Kirby has failed to kick AA out of ORD, and DL is focusing on the last true 3 legacy battle – LAX – and there isn’t much that AA or UA can do while DL expands including on TPAC routes.
I take it you picked up that the FAA just announced that it will extend flight caps at EWR thru next summer and at LGA and JFK through 2028. They are simply not willing to let AA or B6 fail at LGA or JFK but are really allowing DL to continue to use LGA and JFK slots which AA and B6 do not.
and jeremy
no, UA has not grown east of the river and DL has not grown west of the river.
The east side (NY) of the NYC market is simply larger and has much more dysfunctional airline capacity there than on the west side (NJ); EWR is at capacity and the FAA says it isn’t growing.
feel free to show us the schedules for UA’s service from JFK.
the deal is not done until the DOJ signs off.
B6′ pullback at EWR was a major part of the B6-UA that collapsed. It is far from certain that UA will be allowed to grow any larger than their current largest carrier position.
and the same thing is true of DL; DL just happens to be able to pick up a slot here or there that no one else can use and put into 2 hubs that already work.
funny how you think that UA will be able to compete as the 4th carrier at JFK but DL can’t take on UA as #2 at EWR.
kinda shoots down UA’s arguments about ORD, doesn’t it?
and I can assure you that DL will add transcon service from EWR if UA does so from JFK.
I read that “Good, Gary” in Emperor Palpatine’s voice… as-in, “good.. good.. let the hate flow through you..” bah!
JetBlue is a great airline. It is the only domestic airline that I have flown in quite a few years. I last flew on them in May of this year. I hope that they can right size their airline and start growing again.
@jns — I recall you’re one of the few (along with @Peter) who actually seem to speak highly of and want B6 to prevail here. Just wanted to say, thank you. Hope so too.
@TD – I hear you, but the alternative is to do nothing? I’m not saying a split operation is ideal, but there are advantages to LGA TA versus TC where folks like @Gary don’t love the long walks. Very easy to promote the expediency of TA. And sure DL is flying to BOS 16x a day versus AA 8x – AA’s not going to win the route. But that just means they can probably fit into LGA TA on those three business-centric routes with only six gates. Can make it feel swanky – have nicely dressed stewards walk around the terminal offering folks free coffee and the snack of the day.
The whole idea is not to overtake DL (I agree that’s not happening anytime soon if ever), it’s just to create a “Flagship” experience and drive co-brand spend. Literally just make the whole of TA a “shuttle lounge” and offer special “shuttle co-brand applications” with 150k miles instead of 100k or whatever. And have a shuttle bus connecting the terminals airside. Just thinking out loud here, but the idea of doing something to try and cater to business travelers is kind of the idea, right?
@1990 – yeah, would love for B6 to stay around and compete. Enjoy flying them. But the writing on the wall does not look amazing, sadly.
Probably around early 2020 , probably in Boston Logan airport once I saw a mouse probably at a jet blue departure gate but nobody cared