Just yet….

 

 

Anyone that thinks a 500+ airplane combination of Frontier and Spirit is better than the JetBlue deal needs to reevaluate.

https://www.denverpost.com/2023/07/21/frontier-airlines-lawsuit-hidden-fees/

ULCC will never be in the USA what it is in other parts of the world. Americans want it all without paying for it. But if you roll it into the price they will still pay for it. They hate ala carte. It’s kind of like free shipping. My wife pays for shipping all the time yet refuses to pay for anything labeled as shipping cost.

If you have more than 5 years before retirement then currently JetBlue is the best option for the long term viability of this airline and also the best chance for legacy money.

 

And ULCC will never be profitable when having to pay pilot wages where pilot wages are/heading. Even with record travel demand, NK is probably going to barely eke out a profit. High labor, parked planes, staffing challenges and ATC demands doesn’t work for an airline who sells cheap seats.

The ULCC model works on cutting cost corners whenever and wherever they can, salaries included. Labor cost as a percentage of revenue for a ULCC is astronomically higher than labor costs to revenue at legacy carriers. ULCC work great overseas where pilots make far less; but it isn’t as easy as “pay us more and raise fares” with Spirit and still be long term profitable. Spirit doesn’t have the revenue streams that legacy carriers do, which is one reason why wages make up such a huge percentage of revenue.

ULCC was great when I started and pilots were paid $125 to sit left seat of a narrow body, legacy airlines included, but thankfully those times are over and NK will not be able to compete and remain profitable as their costs continue to grow.

jetBlue, bring it on. Might not be the best for today, but it’s the best best for tomorrow.

 

Higher fare/higher service have clearly recovered/performed better post COVID.

 

Interesting that this was brought up about it being better off long term work B6.

I was actually thinking I made a mistake not bailing out earlier and am thinking about it again. Looking at performance metrics - completion, D0 etc B6 is at the bottom of every category. I'll say again, EVERY category...

When they can't run their current airline why do any of y'all think they'll be able to run a combined airline? (Serious question)

 

Something like 60+% of their flights touch either the NY metros or Boston. No ATC issues there at all….
They need geographic diversity of routes to offset their northeast concentration, they have stated as much in the merger propaganda. We’ll see what happens and if they can run routes like DTW-LAX, or ORD-RSW, or DFW-ATL profitably….

 

Why would we invest in long-term software upgrades, SOC resources, preventative maintenance, etc. to fix the operation now, when the merged airline will require us to completely rebuild/rethink the entire airline/operation anyways over the next 3-5 years?

We’ve garnered some ill will from customers over the last year or two with the operation being in the gutter, but if you put on a cynical upper management hat, what’s the point of investing time or money into fixing things, when the whole airline is basically bet on this acquisition at the moment?

 

JetBlue needs us as much as we need them but for different reasons. Solutions to problems on both sides.

Spirit + Frontier is dead wood. Just watch if the retirement age changes and the frontier bottom can’t flee to legacies there is no incentive for their management to get them a contract ever. It will take a strike.

 

I would say we at JetBlue share some of these concerns 😂 Idk, time will tell I guess. I’ve been here 5 years and don’t wanna start over, although there’s times where I wish I would have left 2 years ago. Again, didn’t feel good about starting at the bottom and also drive to work. Hindsight is always 20/20 🤷🏻‍♂️ at any rate, now I’m tied to the ship…good or bad. Hope it all works out!