I recently wrote about the second quarter 2024 financial results of American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines, which were largely poor and pointed to overcapacity in the industry (at least that’s what airline executives like to talk about).
JetBlue Airways announced its financial results for the second quarter of 2024 today. The company reported a modest profit of $25 million. While this isn’t a great number (considering this is the best quarter yet for most airlines), it is a big step in the right direction as it’s the first time the company has had a quarterly profit in a long time.
In addition to releasing its financial results, JetBlue also announced its plans to return to sustainable profitability, which include some fairly bold steps.
JetForward and JetBlue’s plan to return to profitability
JetBlue is calling its evolved strategy to return to profitability “JetForward.” The company is focused on four priorities, with the goal of increasing EBIT by $800 million to $900 million from 2025 to 2027.
So what does JetForward include? Details are a little thin, but here are what JetBlue claims are the four pillars of the strategy:
Reliable and caring service, including improving on-time performance through investments in tools and technology that enable better planning and recovery, and providing exceptional, consistent customer service. Best East Coast leisure network, focusing our network on leisure flying originating from New York, New England, Florida and Latin America, including exiting many unprofitable markets. Delivering the products and benefits customers value, including enhancing product offerings and loyalty rewards to attract customers who value high-quality, premium experiences, and optimizing product merchandising to maximize revenue potential. Ensuring a secure financial future by maintaining our traditional cost advantage and restoring balance sheet strength through balance sheet discipline.
You have to give JetBlue credit here. It’s easier said than done, but these are exactly the things JetBlue needs to focus on. Interestingly, there has been no announcement that JetBlue will be introducing First Class on all of their aircraft, but it is expected to happen soon.
JetBlue delays deliveries of new aircraft until 2030 or later
Now, I want to focus on what I consider to be JetBlue’s biggest development today: The airline announced that it will defer roughly $3 billion in capital expenditures until 2029, with the goal of improving the company’s cash flow outlook.
This includes postponing the delivery of a total of 44 Airbus A321neo aircraft from 2025 to 2029 and then beyond to 2030.

This has big implications for the airline. JetBlue is still on track to take delivery of its Airbus A220-300s that it has on order, as previously planned. The airline has a total of 76 of those planes on order since 2024. But JetBlue isn’t scheduled to take delivery of any new A321neos in 2026, 2027, 2028 or 2029.
JetBlue has A321neos, A321LRs, and A321XLRs on order, many of which will be deferred (the A321LRs and A321XLRs will likely be included in this change, as they are variants of the A321neo.) The A321LRs and A321XLRs were supposed to be used for long-haul expansion, so it’s clear we won’t be seeing much expansion in this area going forward.

It remains to be seen how JetBlue’s overall capacity will change 10 years from now.
The airline mainly uses A220s as replacements for E190s, which have a higher capacity and are much more fuel efficient. The airline is gradually retiring some of its older A320s, leading to a reduction in its “classic” fleet. Some of the A320 family aircraft have been grounded due to Pratt & Whitney engine problems.
This seems like a smart move by JetBlue, as airlines talk about overcapacity but still have very aggressive order books, which doesn’t seem like a great combination.

Conclusion
JetBlue announced that it would delay the delivery of dozens of new aircraft while reporting its second-quarter 2024 financial results. Specifically, the airline is delaying deliveries of its A320 family aircraft to 2030 or later, and has no A320 family aircraft deliveries scheduled for 2026 through 2029.
This will have a huge impact on JetBlue’s growth, especially on long-haul routes. Given the current state of the industry, these changes seem perfectly reasonable.
What do you think about JetBlue’s flight delays?