JetBlue Airways is moving forward with its flight plans at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, its president said, whether or not the airport’s No. 1 carrier, Spirit Airlines, receives a government bailout.
JetBlue, United Airlines, Border AirlinesBreeze Airways and others added flights last year to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., which is Spirit’s hub, as well as other major airports where Spirit has a large presence. The moves came shortly after Spirit filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy for the second time in less than a year.
As a possible liquidation looms, budget company Spirit is in talks with the Trump administration for a possible bailout that could include a $500 million loan that could also give the government an ownership stake of up to 90%, people familiar with the matter said, requesting anonymity to speak about the deal before it is public. The airline’s lenders are exploring a deal this week.
Spirit has reduced capacity in recent years to save on costs. As of February, it still had the largest market share in Fort Lauderdale at nearly 25 percent, up from more than 28 percent a year earlier, while JetBlue’s share increased to more than 20 percent, up from 18.5 percent a year earlier, according to the airport’s latest available statistics.
“We’ve now added significant capacity there,” JetBlue Chairman Marty St. George said Tuesday during an earnings conference call. “We have doubled the size of our next biggest competitor.
“We didn’t go into this expecting the Spirit to go away,” he added. “What we did was take advantage of the door availability that they created with some of their drop-down menus.”
He added that JetBlue was happy with its unit revenue there, even with the capacity additions. “I think it shows that JetBlue’s value proposition resonates in South Florida,” he said.
The industry is grappling with soaring fuel prices, but JetBlue and other carriers have so far reported that customers are continuing to book flights.
The Association of Value Airlines, of which JetBlue is not a member, said Monday it is seeking $2.5 billion from the Trump administration to help offset rising fuel prices, airlines’ second-largest expense after labor.
JetBlue CEO Joanna Geraghty said the airline was open to “anything and everything, assuming the terms would make sense for JetBlue,” but added that the airline was focused on its JetForward strategy to return to profitability, including adding new products like domestic first-class seats.
She said the carrier is monitoring the situation and seeing what “is happening at the Spirit and Value carriers and if anything happens to them,” she said.