annnnd look who showed up after

 

First of all this whole narrative is framed incorrectly. Here is an exact transcript of the question, which was not "Does United want to buy Jetblue"

Question:
"Excluding Spirit and Frontier, will we see or and or do we need more industry consolidation? And does United play a role in it?"

Response:
"I don’t know. I think it’s I probably think it’s less likely than others think. JetBlue is the obvious candidate. Joanna is going to be here later today. So you can ask her what she thinks.

…It’s possible. But there’s a lot of challenges, like I look at it from United’s perspective. We have a great plan that is working and mergers are so hard. They’re disruptive.

Your technology team spends two years on the sideline just integrating like I bet a lot of you use the United app. I bet you all think it’s the best app in the world in airlines because it is. Like that kind of investment just gets harder to do. We got some super cool stuff coming for customers this year. That stuff just gets harder and harder to do.

And at United, well, when the business plan is working, like the hurdle to go do it, we don’t need a deal for sure. The hurdle to go do a deal gets a whole lot higher.

That said, at least at United, I would like to have a bigger I’d like to have a presence on the other side of the river at JFK. But man, all the headache, all the brain damage of buying a whole airline to get that, that’s a lot to do. So, yes, really, I think the ball is going to be in JetBlue’s court.

…They’re also an airline that focuses on brand loyalty. So from the customer perspective, they have a lot of those sort of core DNA things that are expected there. Also competing with another airline, JFK and Boston that has that too.

So it’s a tough position for it to be in. So it’s sort of their decision on how to sort through that. That’s the only one that I think really is potentially in play one way or another."

_____________________

So first of all he's talking about industry consolidation in general. He literally refutes the idea that United would buy Jetblue and even lists all the reasons that he doesn't want to.

Also...this quote was March 9th, 2025. The Jetblue partnership was not even announced on May 29th, 2025. Two months later. The "ball is in their court" and "its their decision" was because they were still negotiating the partnership, not a proposed merger. None of the partnership was known when this happened. So Kirby says "We want some JFK slots", "its up to Jetblue" etc and Jetblue decides to enter into a partnership with United and give them JFK slots.

That's what he was talking about. The partnership and giving United JFK gates and not a merger that United pitched and Jetblue was "thinking about it"

That's it. Even more so, this shows that Kirby speaks pretty frankly. If he had said these things after the partnership was announced that might be different, but there is no evidence Kirby said anything about wanting to buy Jetblue, actually the opposite numerous times. He even literally said "we got everything we wanted from the partnership there's no reason to buy Jetblue".

There is no United buying Jetblue. Its not going to happen. Sorry.

 

I did laugh when I read what he wrote about me. Except for "ultra-senior" (which is true) I dispute the rest of his characterizations about me.

 

So to be clear he was asked about a merger as you said and talked about it but also the ball is in JetBlue’s court was actually about a partnership? Do I have that right?

 

BTW on the United side you are saying (I coukd be wrong) that if United was to buy up to 50% of us they don’t need to take pilots is that correct?

 

During the partnership negotiations there was a rumor that United and Jetblue were planning a merger. United filed an 8K in Jan 2025 that there were not seeking a merger with Jetblue.

At the conference (two months later) Kirby was asked about industry consolidation, not "Are you buying Jetblue". If you read the entire quote, everything he said came true with the partnership.

He said:

1) He wanted to get some gates/slots in JFK
2) He didn't want a merger and explained in detail why not.
3) The references to "ball in their court" etc were made while they were still negotiating the terms of the partnership (i.e. JFK gates)

2 months later United and Jetblue have a partnership that includes...JFK gates/slots.

Kirby wanted JFK slots and he got them.

Nothing else since then indicates that any airline is interested in buying Jetblue.

 

Exactly. Its Federal Law.

If an airline buys less than 50% of another airline, it is NOT required to take any employees because its not a "covered transaction".

Also Federal Law does not require a purchaser of a minority percentage of another airline to honor any successorship clauses. Those agreement are only between the airline and its pilots and the acquiring airline is not bound by those agreements. They are generally known as meaningless clauses.

When airlines were regulated it was different, but MCB changed all that and the 50% threshold is the barrier for being required to hire employees and also address how unionized employees are integrated.

Do you have recourse? Yes. You could sue Jetblue if they sold assets, but you can't force another airline (United for example) to bring over the pilots.

 

So to be clear our contract means nothing?
We have recourse it’s called a CBA but you knew about all of this right?

D. Sale of Assets
1. In the event of a transaction with an air carrier certified under Part 121 of the U.S.
Federal Aviation Regulations, or any person or entity that owns or controls or is
owned or controlled by an air carrier certified under Part 121 of the U.S. Federal
Aviation Regulations, by which the Company disposes of and/or transfers directly
or indirectly, either in a single transaction or a series of transactions, more than
25% of its ASMs (as determined on a net basis inclusive of any additional aircraft
acquisitions, deliveries or purchases within such 12 month period) (a “Significant
Asset Sale”), then as an irrevocable condition of such transaction the Company
and such Part 121 air carrier shall agree that the transferee will, at the discretion
of the Association:
a. offer employment in accordance with seniority to the number of Pilots as
proportionately related to the assets transferred; and
b. integrate such Pilots into the air carrier’s pilot seniority list in accordance
with paragraph E., below.
2. Notwithstanding the above, aircraft financing transactions, securities transactions
involving Company assets, asset sales, swaps, or leases in the ordinary course of
business or non-permanent asset transfers shall not constitute a Significant Asset sale

 

Partly true. B6ALPA does not have a contract with United. But B6ALPA does have a contract with JetBlue, and JetBlue can not sign any contracts that circumvent their contract with B6ALPA. Therefore, any contract between United and JetBlue would have to satisfy our CBA section 1.D in order to be lawful.

 

I can’t wait for him to tell us our contract does not count. I would have thought that someone who knows everything and is completely sure of how things will go would not have overlooked this. Unless……..