2020 seems like a good year to get hired here.

Purely speculative, but with the legacies collectively hiring north of 3,000 pilots in 2020 and beyond, what number of Blue pilots do you all think will jump ship?

Where exactly is the growth is my question?
I think JB is a great product but where will they expand? Lax ? Europe really takes off? Thats my only concern which is why I kinda feel that the NEO's will be more replacement than growth...

I hope not.

I’m wondering this, too. Meanwhile, places like Spirit and Frontier are expanding like wildfire. They said at VIB this year that they’re looking at adding 1-2 more focus cities “in less than 5 years.” Vague, but I’m sure they’ll show their hand when they’re ready.

I have NEVER, EVER, EVER, heard any JB "leadership", check airmen, chief pilot, union leader, fleet captain or friend in "high places" even hint at a new focus city... Other than after losing Virgin several years ago they were looking at SJC and 1-2 LA airports that I won't name.

With that said, JB NEEDS more focus cities and hopefully that includes geographic diversity, hopefully multiple different regions.

As for hiring projections for the next 5-6 years, JB revises aircraft delivery schedules every few years, and most of the time it is to slow deliveries (growth) in one way or another. I have yet to see them sustainably increase the RATE of growth or deliveries.

That is the historical pattern, maybe this time is different.

100ish per year retirements+attrition. Lots of churn in the 0-3yr seniority for guys leaving.

Europe is the most likely bet for future growth. The HD 321neo is for upgauging NE-Florida routes for the most part.

100% this. I expect to see the order books drawn out and growth reduced.

MSP? You likey?

I would also bet on more frequencies,
Look at the size of SWA and JetBlue. Look at how many city’s they both serve. It’s almost the same number yet SWA is way bigger vs JetBlue so we definitely have room to add flying to existing city’s as well as Europe and new places.


Wall St has the ELT by the B—-ls. They hate growth because it is expensive and want to see our EPS go up. I think if they can hit that they could make a case for more aggressive growth both to the board and Wall St.

But the above is all a guess.