Here's why IMO they are doing the IPO at this time. BTW, they were ready to go with the IPO announcement on 9/12 and pulled it.

The folks who put money with JetBlue include George Soros and a number of other venture capital investors. These VC guys have not had a great amount of good news recently nor healthy companies in which they had invested. Taking the company public (presumably at a valuation at least 2 or 3 times VC's cost) will allow the VC to show their investors some better returns on their capital.

JetBlue is growing, profitable, has no debt, and is a pax favorite. Its a company that should be IPO'ed at this time. There is no sense in having another VC financing round, since no VC would get much bang for the buck now. The biggest upside in a company is when it goes from start up to profitability. Since there is less risk in the company now that it is profitable, and less return potential, VC's will opt to take it public rather than invest with a lower return opportunity.

I suspect that the cache, or perceived "hipness" of JetBlue, its profitability, its expected growth, and its management team will make this an IPO with a great deal of retail and institutional demand. Investors will think they can get into a Southwest-like company at a much earlier phase.