JetBlue is still in talks with other airlines on a potential partnership, President Marty St. George said Wednesday. These discussions come nearly two years after its Northeast Alliance (NEA) with American Airlines was struck down by a federal judge.
The New York-based carrier also mentioned partnership talks during a recent fourth-quarter earnings call.
“ We have said we’re talking to multiple airlines, we’re still talking … . If we find a deal that’s accretive, we will absolutely do it,” St. George said during an investors conference this week. “There is an amount of money in the JetForward plan for partnership, but we didn’t really gauge how big it would be or how small it would be.”
When the judge struck down JetBlue’s deal with American in 2023 on antitrust grounds, he laid out a “road map” for what a revised deal could look like that would appease regulators. The JetBlue-American partnership debuted in 2020 and allowed for schedule and slot coordination, revenue sharing, and various customer benefits.
Loyalty Benefits
St. George added that frequent flyer benefits would be a major component of a partnership. Under the NEA, American and JetBlue members could earn and redeem miles on both carriers, along with reciprocal loyalty benefits.
“ I think the ability to bring that utility as TrueBlue would be fantastic. We’re very happy with where TrueBlue revenues have been as far as percentage total, which I think we talked about in the last call. But we think that there’s a lot of upside,” he shared, referring to the airline’s loyalty program.
There’s been plenty of speculation over airline deals in recent weeks, especially as the new Trump administration took office. Recently, United dispelled rumors that it was in talks over a merger or acquisition of JetBlue.
