Easily google-able, but I am happy to oblige. In 2016, after continued underperformance by post-merger management and the upheaval after the Smisek investigation, a consortium of activist investors bought a minority interest in then-United Continental Holdings and proposed a slate of independent directors to replace what was seen as a failing BOD. Ultimately the dispute was settled with union support and appointment of different independent directors, but it proved to be a turning point for the better that led to the installation of competent airline management at the top of United for the first time in a generation.

Here's a free link re: Icahn: https://www.cnbc.com/2024/02/12/acti...dervalued.html

My point is this: it is no secret that United is positioning to take advantage of any fallout from strategic changes at one or more of the U/LCC carriers which have emerged from the pandemic substantially weaker and have been outperformed by the likes of UA and DL. It's also no secret (at least to some) that United covets JFK and has its eye on increasing its footprint in Florida, especially at MCO, which it views to be an increasingly-premium growth market. It doesn't take much in the way of mental gymnastics to see how those two long-term strategic objectives dovetail nicely with existing JetBlue assets.

Carl Icahn is an old-school "corporate raider" and while his tactics (along with the rest of that sector) have changed dramatically since the 1980s, fundamentally there is a constant: a search for undervalued, underperforming companies that, as a whole, are worth less than the sum of their parts. Highly desirable are those companies with constituent assets that can either generate cash for investors ("unlock value") upon sale and/or stand to benefit from major changes in management. Right now, JetBlue is an example of such a company.

It's one shoe dropping.