JetBlue, ‘New York's Hometown Airline®', has unveiled its financial performance for the first quarter ending March 31, 2024. The airline disclosed a net loss of US$716 million, representing a year-on-year revenue decline of 5.1% to US$2.2 billion. As of the end of the first quarter, JetBlue held US$1.7 billion in unrestricted cash, cash equivalents, short-term investments and long-term marketable securities. Additionally, the company maintains an undrawn revolving credit facility worth US$600 million.
JetBlue's revenue per available seat mile (RASM) for the first quarter experienced a decrease of 2.5% compared to the same period last year, amounting to 13.54 cents, while the cost per available seat mile (CASM) surged by 17.1% to 17.95 cents. Costs excluding fuel (CASM-ex) also witnessed a year-over-year increase of 7.1%, reaching 10.57 cents.
During the first quarter, JetBlue announced its decision to scale back operations at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), reducing departures by approximately one-third by June 13, 2024. Moreover, the airline rationalised its presence at seven stations and is progressing towards discontinuing services at Baltimore, Bogotá, Burlington, Kansas City, Lima, Newburgh, and Quito. JetBlue also initiated new direct seasonal flights to Dublin from New York (JFK) and Boston (BOS), alongside new daily nonstop service between Boston and Paris (CDG).
“We've begun rolling out the initial components of our refocused plan. In the first quarter, we announced a number of significant network changes, which are designed to free up unprofitable flying and reallocate it to proven leisure markets where JetBlue has historically won” said Marty St. George, JetBlue's President. “Demand remained healthy in peak periods, and in particular, we saw encouraging performance from our domestic and transatlantic flying, as well as continued outsized demand for our premium seating options.”
“Aside from elevated capacity in the Latin region expecting to impact our revenue performance as we move from Q1 to Q2, the remainder of our network is steadily improving, and we look forward to launching additional revenue initiatives to support our revenue performance in the back half of the year. We remain committed to winning our high-margin, core geographies and returning to profitability again, driven by our refocused strategy to better serve our core customers” continued St. George.
