JetBlue Airways will end service at several cities and reduce flying out of Los Angeles in a move to retrench and focus on stronger markets after years of losing money.
The changes will also help the airline cope with the grounding of some of its planes for inspections of their Pratt & Whitney engines, an executive told employees Tuesday.
Beginning June 13, JetBlue will pull out of Kansas City, Missouri; Bogota, Colombia; Quito, Ecuador; and Lima, Peru.
āThese markets are unprofitable and our aircraft time can be better utilized elsewhere,ā Dave Jehn, the airlineās vice president of network planning, said in a memo to employees.
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Also in June, the New York-based airline will drop several destinations from Los Angeles including Seattle, San Francisco, Las Vegas and Miami. It will end flights between Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and Atlanta; Austin, Texas; Nashville; New Orleans and Salt Lake City, and service between New York and Detroit.
JetBlue has lost more than $2 billion since its last profitable year, 2019. The airline tried to grow through a partnership and a merger, but the Biden administrationās Justice Department sued to kill both deals.
Last May, a federal judge ordered JetBlue and American Airlines toĀ dissolve a partnershipĀ they created in Boston and New York. In January another judgeĀ blocked JetBlueĀ from buying Spirit, saying the proposed $3.8 billion deal violated antitrust law.
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The architect of those unsuccessful deals, Robin Hayes, stepped down as CEO in February and was replaced by Joanna Geraghty.
Frustrated by the courtroom defeats, JetBlue under Geraghty is turning toward growing on its own, which will take much longer.
Even before the change in CEOs, investor Carl Icahn began toĀ buy nearly 10%Ā of JetBlue stock, and his side got two seats on the airline board.
The airline has struggled to improve its operation. JetBlueĀ ranked ninthĀ out of the nationās 10 largest airlines in both canceled flights and on-time arrivals last year, according to U.S. Transportation Department numbers.
