you counted UA twice and left out WN conveniently - if that is the your perspective.
To be fair, if you adjust for the length of existence for the carrier, and the special charges that the legacies took for Bankruptcies, JBLU will be right in the middle of the pack.
What happened is that JBLU narrowly avoided a near-death, as evidenced by the rebound of stock price. And what did it have to do to avoid that near death?
1. Dilution of the current stock base by selling to, surprisingly, a foreign flagship legacy
2. Tighten up the fees for change and re-pricing
3. Raise the ticket price - evidenced by the posts in the forum about lack of deals and the rollout of Y refundables
4. Attempt to build more code-shares
5. Attempt to tier reward structure
6. Cut down freebies and start charging fees
All that sounds familiar? Yes, JBLU is becoming a legacy, or part of. We judge by the action not the words. GONE are the days where you get superior service for below the cost. Unfortunately, those "deals" were built on the subsidy of investors and un-jaded employees. Now JBLU starts behaving like a legacy, or rather business, those people who love the company for the wrong reasons will have to eat crow, if not now, will be soon.
Last but least, the development of relationship between CO and LiveTV is a very interesting one. It is effectively a cash infusion by CO - JBLU has to pledge something down the road. My guess is it is either the ease of price war over Florida market, or a signal for the upcoming merger mania for the industry.
Originally Posted by
TWA Fan 1
Even adjusting for the difference in size of the carrier, B6 has cumulatively lost less money than any of the legacies since 9/11, including AA, CO, DL, UA, US, NW, UA.
What I meant by "longest period of profitability is that B6 had a profit in 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2004, a period during which all the legacies each lost billions of dollars. And no, B6 has not been more profitable than WN in the period since 9/11.
The big difference is the lack of cash on hand; that's clearly a huge issue because no business can survive without cash.
Still, the situation needs to be put in perspective.