JetBlue Reports Decent Earnings
JetBlue stock (side note: people at JetBlue can’t like the fact they got beat to the ‘BLUE’ ticker symbol) soared Tuesday as it released its Q2 earnings which exceeded Wall Street estimates and saw an 11% jump in unit revenue for the airline on airfare increases of 9%.
Operating revenue of $2.69 billion was a 14.5% leap from ’25 and was just a smidge higher than the $2.68 billion which was expected. (Every buy-up counts!) Despite the grand rise in revenue, it couldn’t outrun the CASM monster (unit costs increased 17%, and were still up 2.4% ex-fuel) which led to a loss of $247 million. That comes out to a loss of $0.66 per share, but that’s better than the loss of $0.71 predicted by Wall Street.
JetBlue’s forecast expects operating margin to increase by about 3.5% for the back-half of 2026. It recaptured almost half of its higher fuel costs from Q2, far exceeding analyst expectations of 30-40%. It ended the quarter with $1.6 billion in cash with most of it allocated to the cost of fumigating the Marine Air Terminal at LaGuardia…
JetBlue Introduces Domestic First Class
JetBlue is ready to dive into the domestic first class game. The carrier, which has operated its minty-fresh long-haul business class for many years now (and on select domestic routes) is diving headfirst into growing its premium offerings throughout its fleet.
The name of this product will be BlueFirst — and we can only imagine how much time it took to come up with that. Rollout will begin this fall and is expected to be finished by late 2027. The cabin will eventually go on every non-mint aircraft in the fleet. For you seat sickos, JetBlue is going with the Collins Aerospace MiQ seat which is the same seat we use at Cranky World HQ. The product is expected to have most of the standard FC accoutrements including upgraded dining, priority during check-in, boarding, and baggage handling, and most of all, the explicit permission from the carrier to laugh and point as people trudge past you to the main cabin.
The first class rollout comes amidst an entire fare reset. It’s very complicated and will likely require extensive analysis from us as there are four experiences: Main, EvenMore, BlueFirst, and Mint. How will we ever sort it out? Then, there’s three fare types for each: Basic, Standard, and Flex. So you know, what everyone else has done. And we believe JetBlue is the only domestic airline that could possibly roll out a new domestic first class product this week, right? Right?
Allegiant Introduces Domestic First Class
Wrong. The hot new trend of the summer: domestic first class. Allegiant Air will be adding domestic first class next year marking a significant diversion from its previous business model. The carrier will begin introducing first class seating and amenities on select aircraft as soon as spring 2027. The new cabin will consist of two rows in 2-2 seating format, for a total of eight seats up front. The cleverly-named Allegiant First product is expected to go on sale in mid-August.
As a bonus for all Allegiant fliers, some new perks are expanding to the entire aircraft, not just first class. Beginning Saturday, the airline will no longer charge for most non-alcoholic drinks. Booze will still come with a price tag, but soft drinks, juice, and water will be complimentary, creating all sorts of arbitrage opportunities for Allegiant fliers who purchasd their ticket weeks or months ago but are flying in the near future.
As we reported earlier this week, “select aircraft” means new deliveries starting in 2027 with 23 aircraft in the current plan. These airplanes will start out in Punta Gorda. Allegiant’s route map provides no hints as to what might be a premium market for the carrier, which creates a guessing game that Delta and DraftKings couldn’t even come up with if they tried. But let’s all agree on this — if Punta Gorda to Niagara Falls doesn’t receive a first class cabin, we riot.
Delta Has a New Idea? You Can Bet on That
We learned last year that Delta was cooking something up with DraftKings that was destined to skirt laws against gambling in the sky, and as details emerged this week we learned that yes, in fact, this is a terrible idea.
Delta, along with DraftKings will introduce SkyPicks, which will allow SkyMiles members 21 and over the ability to use their personal devices to bet make predictions on games and matches 30,000 feet below. The entire contest is free, and is only an entertainment experience only, they swear. The real miss here is leaving it only to sports — imagine if you could be on things happening on your flight? Now that’s entertainment. Will the man in 38C choose Biscoffs (-200 odds), Cheez-Its (even money) or the Sun Chips (+110). Over/under on the amount of time the lady from 7C will spend in the lav: 77.5 seconds. Over/under on times the pilot puts the seatbelt sign back on during flight: 3.5. The possiblities really are endless.
To use the actual service, you must be logged into the in-flight WiFi on your personal device. It’s live now with MLB games and is expected to add the NFL in the fall. This definitely feels like some sort of gateway drug to getting actual betting on-board. It’s currently illegal regardless of where the flight begins or ends (even if its between two states or even fully within one state that permits online gambling). Just know your next Delta flight is a lock to have over 243.5 Biscoffs served. You can take it to the bank.
Spirit’s Loss Grows Frontier’s Revenue
A strong Q2 for Frontier produced record revenue for the carrier with a gross figure of $1.28 billion which it says was driven by strong travel demand and “favorable competitive capacity” which is earnings-speak for “our yellow-painted pain in the ass competitor finally bit the dust.”
Despite Spirit’s demise, Frontier still lost $90 million dollars in net income for the quarter, a 29% drop from Q2 last year. That figure looks a little better when put next to its fuel bill which jumped to $4.17 per gallon, 77% more than last year. The total fuel bill nearly doubled to $436 million. Frontier delivered 79% earnings per share and saw RASM jump 28% to $0.1. Its forward-looking guidance shows Q3 RASM growth above 20%, which would mark a third straight quarter of double-digit growth.
Frontier closes the midpoint of the year with $1.16 in liquidity and a pile of yellow seats it picked up on the cheap.
- Air Asia X delayed its service launch to both Bahrain and London to early next year.
- Air Canada joined the Basic Business revolution.
- Air France-KLM earned €484 million in Q2.
- Air Montenegro is considering picking up its first E2 from Embraer.
- Air Premia is seeking $75 million.
- ANA received permission for an interim JV with Singapore in Australia.
- beOnd is adding five destinations from Red Sea International in Saudi Arabia.
- China Southern will begin flying to Ethiopia later this year.
- Emirates will begin accepting crypto as payment for flights from UAE residents only.
- Finnair appointed Jussi Siitonen its new CFO.
- LOT will begin flying to Hanoi in the spring.
- IAG profit dropped 16% as it reduced its future capacity.
- Ryanair received a nearly $5 million refund from the Italian government.
- Singapore posted its first loss in a quarter since 2022.
- Southern Airways Express is looking at just over $300k in fines from the FAA.
- ValueJet (not the one you’re thinking of) secured its first B737-800.
- WestJet FAs are moving closer to a strike.
- Wizz Air is opening a base in Pristina later this year.
I asked the librarian if they had any books that could help me manage my paranoia.
“They’re right behind you,” she said.
