Long shaking on double-digit Airbus jets based on a recall of Pratt & Whitney geared turbo fans (GTF), Jetblue Airways predicts the fleet will return to full force by the end of 2027.
CEO Johanna Gerati said in the company's July 29 revenue call that JetBlue will return to its growth stage next year, reflecting a significant improvement in aircraft forecasts for aircraft.
“A revised forecast will allow us to re-enforce capacity by the end of the decade in 2026, achieving a more beneficial unit cost growth trajectory,” she says. “In the end, this supports our path to a profitability recovery.”
New York-based JetBlue will begin expanding passenger capacity with low single numbers starting next year, according to company executives.
Geraghty's remarks represent a noticeable tone shift from the beginning of the year when Jetblue warned that the worst grounding of GTF-related A320neo-Family aircraft has not yet arrived. At the time, Jetblue's chief financial officer, Ursula Hurley, said the company expects the number of jets of average position this year to appear in “mid to mid-teens” and peaks over the next year or two.
Now, that forecast has “significantly improved, and we expect there to be no basis for this year on average less than 10,” says Harley.
“2025 represents a peak and we'll set the numbers to decline as we progress into 2026, and we think it'll be completely resolved by the end of 2027,” she says.
JetBlue's more optical outlook is associated with “exceeding GTF durability performance and increased required maintenance intervals with aggressive self-help, which we undertake to source spare engines as a result of the turbofan challenges.”
Hundreds of Airbus jets have been in use for months as P&W conducts GTF engine inspections and hampers the network, capacity plans and fleet strategies of the global A320NEO, A220 and EMBRAER E190-E2 operators.
The recall is related to a potential defect in the engine fan blades first detected in 2023.
In addition to providing JetBlue's path to growth, improving the situation with GTF removal allows airlines to park four older A320 aircraft following the peak of summer air travel “to manage growth and balance sheet health.”
“We have also decided to sell some upcoming (A321XLR) delivery,” she says. “As a reminder, last year we postponed delivery of aircraft worth around $3 billion in the 2030s, including the majority of our A321neo order book. With these XLR delivery in place, we had a 10-year, costly orphan fleet of two aircraft.”
Finally, JetBlue is scheduled to retire the last 190 of the 190 jets at the end of the summer. These aged jets have been replaced by the Airbus A220-300S.
JetBlue reports a second-quarter loss of $74 million compared to a $25 million profit over the same period last year.
For the full year, JetBlue forecasts measured capacity in available sheet kilometres to decrease between 2.5% and 0.5% year-on-year
