ULCC Model vs. JetBlue
Spirit & Frontier are growing like gangbusters right now. Spirit is particularly impressive in that they are making great strides in various performance metrics while beginning to compete in big legacy hubs. JetBlue is adapting by offering Blue Basic fares (basic economy fares) similar to those offered by other majors attempting to compete with the ULCCs, but even still, Spirit and Frontier have a very high RASM and the lowest CASM in the industry and are expanding their fleets and city pairings like crazy. Spirit is refreshing their cabins, adding in-flight Wi-Fi, etc. and slowly getting away from the 'bare bone' fleet approach while improving the quality of their product.
How is JetBlue supposed to compete with Spirt & Frontier, let alone all the other majors, when they are acting super conservative in a time of unprecedented economic growth? Between Spirit & Frontier alone, they are both adding an additional 300+ Airbus A320 NEOs. Money is cheap, travel demand is high, and there are some cities ripe for expansion. There is no way Spirit, Frontier, Allegiant, or even Breeze aren't eyeing many of the cities that JetBlue could likely succeed in if only JetBlue would make a move -- they're only going to get beaten out by coasting.
JetBlue is either stepping back and letting other carriers test various markets or maybe they're busy getting ready for a M&A with [*insert airline flavor of the week*].