JetBlue Airways has yet to finalise its business plan after 2025 due to what executives describe as a frustrating lack of detail about the long-term operational impact of Pratt & Whitney’s (P&W) ongoing recall of PW1000G engines.
“Long-term capacity planning continues to be challenged by [PW1100G-powered] aircraft on the ground, and we remain in discussions with [P&W] over future… expectations and compensation,” the New York-based airline’s chief executive Joanna Geraghty said on 29 October during JetBlue’s third-quarter earnings call.
“Not having clear line of sight to our longer-term capacity is certainly frustrating,” Geraghty adds.
JetBlue is among airlines globally forced to ground jets due to P&W’s recall. Affected engines include PW1100Gs, one of two power options for Airbus A320neo-family jets, PW1500Gs, which power A220s, and PW1900Gs, power for Embraer’s E-Jet E2s.
The engines need inspections and replacement metallic components due to potential defects introduced during a manufacturing process using powder metal.
“Unfortunately, the fleet situation is very dynamic,” JetBlue president Marty St George added on 29 October. “We continue to be very frustrated as far as status right now, as far as being able to actually get a good handle on what is happening with Pratt.”
JetBlue in February said it expected 11 of its Airbus narrowbody jets – which include A220s and PW1100G-powered A321neos – to be grounded at any given time this year due to the recall.
But JetBlue chief financial officer Ursula Hurley now says that figure will climb to the “mid-to-high” teens in 2025.
To compensation, JetBlue is “in the process of extending” leases on 30 aircraft that it previously intended to divest, Ursula says. “We are keeping those in the fleet to backfill some of the lost capacity due to the GTF… We are in the process of working through those negotiations.”
Still, the recall will leave JetBlue’s capacity down year on year both in the fourth quarter of this year and in the first quarter of next. It expects its full-year 2025 capacity will be even with 2024 capacity.
But the longer-term impact of the engine recall remains unclear to the airline’s leaders.
“We just don’t have a clear line of site beyond 2025,” says Hurley. “We’ll continue to work constructively with Pratt & Whitney on our aircraft-on-ground forecast as well as compensation. Both are a work in progress.”
P&W parent RTX has said the recall will leave 350 aircraft globally parked at any given time through the end of 2026.
JetBlue in the third quarter received six new Airbus A220s, ending September with 287 jets in its fleet, including 38 A220s, 193 A320ceo-family aircraft, 36 A321neos and 20 Embraer 190s, it says.
The airline is using the A220s to replace its E190s and expects to divest the last of the Brazilian-made aircraft by end-2025.
In the fourth quarter, JetBlue anticipates receiving another seven aircraft – among them six A220s and one A321neo.
