JetBlue and Spirit Airlines jointly filed a request to the First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals for an expedited appeal of the Jan. 16 district court ruling that blocked their proposed $3.8 billion merger on antitrust grounds.
The carriers argued that "good cause exists" to expedite the appeal because without it, the appeal is unlikely to be decided prior to the July 24, 2024, outside closing date of the merger agreement.
JetBlue and Spirit requested briefing deadlines through April 11 and that the court schedule oral arguments "no later than the May sitting" to allow the appeal to be decided prior to July 24.
JetBlue executives on a Tuesday earnings call acknowledged that last week the carrier notified Spirit that it could terminate the merger agreement, and they acknowledged the expedited appeal filing.
Outgoing CEO Robin Hayes noted that the carrier still was evaluating its options under the merger agreement, "which remains in effect," he said. "Unless and until such time as the merger agreement is terminated, JetBlue will continue to fully abide by all of its obligations."
Executives otherwise "were not in a position" to answer any questions related to the Spirit merger during the call.
Leisure Focus
JetBlue president and COO Joanna Geraghty, who will take over as CEO on Feb. 12, targeted her earnings-call comments to current and upcoming changes for the carrier's operations. These include "refocusing on our most proven geographies," "urgently reoptimizing our network" and "taking care of our core customer."
Geraghty noted that leisure, particularly premium leisure, would be the main audience for the $300 million in revenue initiatives JetBlue plans to implement in 2024. Those plans include "aggressively reallocating underperforming capacity" to proven leisure and visiting-friends-and-relatives markets, refocusing efforts to "better serve and merchandise all leisure customers" with a growing focus on premium leisure, and continued growth in loyalty program and JetBlue Travel Products, according to an earnings presentation.
Corporate travel was mentioned when Geraghty discussed further segmenting JetBlue's onboard product offerings "more precisely." That means "recharging our innovation DNA to bring an even better quality experience to the full spectrum of JetBlue customers, from leisure to [VFR], to corporate and premium travelers," she said, adding that the carrier planned several new loyalty products in the coming years.
"We will use this new chapter to improve how we merchandise to our core suite of customers," Geraghty said. "And to the extent there are opportunities across certain customer segments, we will launch new revenue initiatives and close the gaps on our product offerings. In many ways, this means refocusing on our core strengths."
Geraghty said the carrier would share more details at its investor day in May.
Q4, 2023 Metrics
JetBlue reported fourth-quarter 2023 revenue of more than $2.3 billion, a 3.7 percent decrease year over year. Full-year revenue was up 5 percent versus 2022 to more than $9.6 billion. Quarterly passenger revenue was down 4.5 percent from a year prior to nearly $2.2 billion, while full-year passenger revenue increased 4.9 percent to $9 billion.
The carrier reported a fourth-quarter loss of $104 million compared with net income of $24 million in Q4 2022. For the full year, the net loss was $310 million compared with 2022's loss of $362 million.
Capacity increased 3.3 percent for the quarter and 6.2 percent for the full year compared with the same periods in 2022. Average fuel costs for the fourth quarter and year were $3.08 and $3.03 per gallon, respectively.
JetBlue projects capacity to decrease during the first quarter of 2024 by 3 percent to 6 percent year over year. Its estimate for the full year is an increase in the low single digits. Revenue for the first quarter also is expected to decrease, by 5 percent to 9 percent from Q1 2023. Full-year revenue is projected to remain flat. Fuel prices for Q1 are estimated to be $2.87 to $3.02 per gallon.
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