US carrier JetBlue Airways reports that engine availability situation is improving as fewer aircraft overhauls the Pratt & Whitney (P&W) Turbofan than previously expected.
Chief Financial Officer Ursula Harley said in the company's April 29 revenue that JetBlue “sees an improvement” from P&W as it works through a large backlog of geared turbofan (GTF) engines that need to be inspected for potential manufacturing defects in the turbine blades.
The GTF engine powers both JetBlue's Airbus A320neo-Family Jets and its A220-300.
Harley previously revealed that JetBlue is predicting the number of jets grounded to the average “middle to high 10” year olds throughout 2025.
“Today we're sitting here and actually only have 10 on the ground,” she says. “So we are pleased with the progress we are seeing operationally in progress from Pratt & Whitney.”
Hurley says there's a “three driver” for the P&W improvement, and the new GTF engine “has been staying on the wing for a long time, so you don't have to go straight to the store as soon as you expect.”
“No. 2, Pratt's supply chain is improving,” she says. “And third, the actual time when the engine enters the store has been slightly improved.”
JetBlue is one of many global airlines narrowed down to P&W's highly destructive engine recalls. The New York-based carrier revealed in February that it had placed wings from wings for an average of one year before the engine returned to service, revealing that P&W engine issues are about 3 percentage points below the profit margin.
The boost to aircraft availability is because JetBlue doesn't want more jets, but as the company intentionally postponed Airbus delivery to the next decade as it plans to curb short-term growth, weighing the retirement of older jets to suit cheap passenger capacity.
“Frankly… we're getting our aircraft back when we don't necessarily need capacity,” says Harley. But ultimately, overcoming the problems of the GTF engine and reaching full fleet strength would be a “tailwind” for JetBlue.
Hurley says JetBlue continues its discussion with P&W about the ongoing potential reward package for aircraft grounding, but there are no updates to share.
“We want to ensure that we get the right compensation based on the challenges we've faced over the last few years,” she says.
JetBlue is under pressure to turn around a series of inactive financial performance. It reported a loss of $208 million in the first quarter, compared to a loss of $716 million during the same period in 2024.
