JetBlue and United Are Reportedly Negotiating a Partnership

JetBlue Airways and United Airlines are negotiating to enter a partnership, which may not take the form of a full alliance but may include reciprocal mileage earning and burning.

Reuters reported on the talks on Wednesday, citing unnamed industry sources, who also said that the carriers are still working on details and that no agreement has been finalized.

Here’s what you need to know.

Partnership Talks May Lead to Larger Alliance

JetBlue‘s president has hinted at a new airline partnership on an earnings call on April 29. The reporting from Reuters confirms what had long been a rumor in the airline industry: The potential partner JetBlue has been talking to is indeed United.

JetBlue provides something United very much wants, according to CEO Scott Kirby: a large presence at the lucrative JFK airport, where United doesn’t fly. Being able to codeshare at JFK — placing United flight numbers on JetBlue flights and sharing revenue from them — would give United a way to capitalize on traffic at the biggest airport in the financial capital of the U.S.

United, a global giant, would give JetBlue a reach it doesn’t have. JetBlue has a significant presence at New York LaGuardia and New York-JFK. However, it has a much smaller footprint at Newark (EWR), where United has a hub.

According to sources cited by Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, which has very good coverage of U.S. aviation, United is after 20 slot pairs that JetBlue would cede at JFK, which would allow for 40 daily flights. United would also get access to 2 boarding gates from JetBlue.

“If you are a customer in the Northeast and you love JetBlue for leisure, but twice a year you have to go to Omaha or Boise, these are places that you can’t earn TrueBlue points on now and when this partnership goes forward, you will be able to,” JetBlue president Marty St. George said on the earnings call.

When asked to clarify, St. George added that it was “a domestic airline with a larger network.”

The current talks with United do not involve joining Star Alliance, the worldwide grouping of carriers of which United is a member. JetBlue is not affiliated to any alliance.

According to Corriere della Sera, the negotiations involve a 3-step plan:

• A commercial alliance, involving the steps described above (codesharing, transfer of gates and slots at JFK)
• A strategic partnership (reciprocal mileage earning and burning may come at this stage or the previous one)
• Acquisition of JetBlue by United if conditions are right

According to CNBC, United is the candidate for an agreement with JetBlue also because everybody else who might want to do it is not, for various reasons, eligible.

Alaska Airlines and Delta Air Lines are not likely candidates for a partnership with JetBlue. And after American Airlines’ and JetBlue’s Northeast Alliance partnership was scrapped in 2023 due to concerns about stifling competition, things between the 2 airlines have turned sour.

In fact, American Airlines sued JetBlue this week. In a letter sent to American employees, Chief Strategy Officer Steve Johnson said the airline had been exploring “renewing a partnership with JetBlue,” which failed.

“We filed a lawsuit against JetBlue today to recover money owed to American following the unwinding of the Northeast Alliance,” Johnson wrote. “We understandably tabled this claim while we were in discussions with JetBlue, but now that those conversations have concluded, we need to address the accounting and reconciliation following the termination of the NEA.”

Final Thoughts

JetBlue and United Airlines are reportedly close to forming a partnership. While not an actual alliance yet, this would likely be a commercial partnership in which each partner brings something the other wants.

JetBlue, which is losing money, needs the scale and reach United would provide. United, which is profitable, has been eyeing the presence at New York’s JFK airport that it lacks — which JetBlue has in spades, possessing a 25% share of traffic.