JetBlue CEO prioritizes profitability and announces the opening of the airline’s inaugural airport lounges. | Travel

For the first time ever, JetBlue (JBLU) is introducing lounges at New York City's JFK Airport and Boston's Logan International Airport as half of the firm’s technique to seize premium prospects and achieve market share in an more and more aggressive panorama.

“We're focused on really executing to our strategy and focusing on our inherent strengths to bring us back to profitability,” CEO Joanna Geraghty advised Yahoo Finance (video above).

To keep away from overcrowding, lounge entry will largely be restricted to holders of a brand new JetBlue premium bank card and the airline's high prospects. Complimentary entry can be accessible to degree 4 standing members of its TrueBlue Mosaic loyalty program and Transatlantic Mint passengers. (Mint is what JetBlue calls its first-class seats.)

Lounge perks will embody free meals, drinks, and Wi-Fi. Level 4 TrueBlue Mosaic members and premium credit score cardholders can carry a visitor in free of cost.

Read extra: Best airline bank cards for September 2024

It’s the newest in a broader effort from Geraghty, who's seven months into the new CEO job, to double down on leisure journey, which might sign a transfer away from value-driven choices and towards the extra luxurious choices which have pushed income success for competing airways.

JetBlue was final worthwhile in 2019, and whereas the airline lately lifted its ahead steering on the again of decrease gas costs and elevated July bookings, the previous 12 months has been crammed with challenges.

Activist investor Carl Icahn's Icahn Enterprises (IEP) acquired two board seats and a ten% stake in the firm the identical week Geraghty took over the CEO position. As she focuses on cost-cutting, she sees alignment with the activist shareholder.

“JetBlue is undervalued, and we strongly believe that,” Geraghty stated. “We've got a number of really important strengths — whether it's the slots, the gates, our network, our people, our product offering — and we want to make sure that we're getting more value out of that.”

Geraghty additionally handled the now-abandoned $3.8 billion merger with Spirit Airlines, which was blocked in January after regulatory scrutiny.

“Clearly, this administration is far more challenging,” Geraghty stated about the regulatory surroundings.

On Wednesday, Alaska Airlines (ALK) completed its acquisition of Hawaiian Airlines (HA) after the Justice Department opted to not block it. Geraghty stated this doesn’t change her focus.

“We need to be profitable,” she added. “We're not pursuing Spirit again.”

Another half of the airline’s path to profitability concerned promoting $2.75 billion in debt, which led Moody’s to chop the airline's score to junk.

Story continues

Despite the challenges, JetBlue’s newest earnings shocked to the upside, with $25 million in revenue for the second quarter. That was down 82% from the prior 12 months however above the Street’s expectations.

The lounges introduced right this moment are anticipated to launch in 2025, so it'll take a while for any revenue increase from the initiative to point out up in firm earnings.

Click right here for the newest inventory market information and in-depth evaluation, together with occasions that transfer shares

Read the newest monetary and enterprise information from Yahoo Finance