JetBlue Will Expand “Even More” Legroom With Q3 Well On Track To Meet Full-Year Targets

Together with the airline’s Q3 results, JetBlue has unveiled changes to its Even More Space seats, which provide economy class passengers with extra legroom, to push more revenue generation from premium products.

True premium economy product

According to the airline, Even More Space seats currently provide four core benefits for customers: more legroom, early boarding, early access to overhead benefits (a consequence of the latter benefit), and quicker security clearance at select airports.

With the upcoming changes, which are part of its JetForward strategy to improve the customer value of its products and perks, the airline said that it will evolve the Even More Space seat product.

“The new approach is designed to boost customer consideration for JetBlue and strengthen the airline’s competitive position in the premium leisure segment.”

In mid-November, JetBlue will make Even More Space more visible in the booking process by offering it to customers directly, with the extra legroom seat also being selectable in the seat selection map.

In 2025, JetBlue will rebrand Even More Space to EvenMore, which will include new benefits and amenities in addition to the existing features of the extra legroom seat. This will hopefully create an appealing offering for passengers who consider buying more premium products for more space and perks, the airline added.

JetBlue said that it would unveil more as EvenMore is closer to launch in 2025, with Marty St. George, the president of JetBlue, noting that the carrier was thrilled to upgrade its Even More Space seats.

“A key part of the EvenMore transformation is making it easier for customers to find and book these enhanced options right from the start.”

Meeting or exceeding targets

Meanwhile, Joanna Geraghty, the chief executive officer (CEO) of JetBlue, said that the airline met or exceeded all of its financial targets in Q3, and it continued to progress on the implementation of the JetForward strategy.

“Thanks to our crewmembers’ efforts and our improved operational performance in the third quarter, we saw a double digit increase in customer satisfaction year-over-year.”

St. George added that JetBlue’s executives were pleased by the positive year-on-year (YoY) unit revenue performance during the quarter, with the president mentioning that its capacity management measures have helped the airline to match supply with demand during off-peak flying better.

“Demand remained healthy in peak periods and close-in, and was further supported by improving competitive capacity, particularly in the Latin region, and the ramp of our revenue initiatives.”

St. George concluded that in Q3, JetBlue announced new products and perks, such as lounges and a premium co-branded credit card, as the airline continued to progress with the implementation of its reliability and network initiatives.

JetBlue launched its JetForward program on July 30, when the airline presented its Q2 results. At the time, Geraghty described it as a strategic framework to return the airline to sustained profitability with four priority moves.

According to the airline, these underpinned a goal of achieving incremental earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) gains of $800 million to $900 million between 2025 and 2027.

The four pillars of the strategy were reliable service, building the best East Coast leisure network, enhancing the value of its products and perks, and reducing its costs.

In Q3, JetBlue reduced its operating expenses by 4.2% YoY, with the airline’s costs being $2.4 billion at the end of the quarter.

During the three-month period, the airline improved its on-time performance by 12 points, optimized 20% of its 2023 network year-to-date (YTD), redeployed aircraft to serve leisure-focused routes from the Northeast, and launched changes to the Blue Basic fare.

The airline raised $3.2 billion to retire existing debt, fund capital expenditures (CapEx) in 2024 and 2025, and continue making moves to support the JetForward program.

Considerable improvement

In light of JetBlue’s $2.4 billion operating expenses and $2.4 billion in operating revenue, an increase of 0.5% YoY, the airline ended the three-month period with an operating loss of $11 million.

Its net loss was $60 million during the period, a significant improvement compared to the $153 million net loss during the same quarter in 2023.

Interestingly, its fuel expenses decreased by 16.8% YoY, with JetBlue spending $584 million during the quarter as it continued to retire older aircraft, including the Airbus A320ceo and Embraer E190s.

Ch-aviation data showed that in 2023, JetBlue had 24 Airbus A220-300, 130 A320ceo, 63 A321ceo, and 60 Embraer E190 aircraft, which excludes its A321neo and A321LR fleet.

Now, the airline operates 38 A220-300, 130 A320ceo, 63 A321ceo, and 42 E190s, 22 of which are stored. Seven A220-300 and A320ceo aircraft each are also stored, according to ch-aviation fleet data.

While it plans to take delivery of 20 A220-300 and seven A321neo aircraft before the end of the year, planned A321neo deliveries will be reduced to four in 2025 and zero in the next three years. However, A220-300 deliveries will continue, including 20 each in 2025 and 2026.

JetBlue detailed that as of September 30, it planned to return two A320ceo and 16 E190 aircraft during the remainder of the year, with plans to ship off five A320ceo and seven E190s in 2025.

Another positive was its unit revenues, which grew by 4.3% YoY. The airline said that the growth was underpinned by healthy demand in peak periods, improved closed-in bookings, competitive capacity moderation in the Latin region, and JetBlue’s own capacity adjustments.

Overall, its Q3 capacity, measured in available seat miles (ASM), decreased by 3.6% YoY, while passenger numbers decreased by 2.9% to 10.5 million during the three-month period.

Outlook in line with strategy

Looking forward, St. George said that JetBlue’s number one goal remains returning to operating profitability, and growing its unit revenue was imperative to achieve that goal.

“As underlying trends from the third quarter have broadly continued into the fourth quarter so far, we expect unit revenue growth to remain positive and sequentially consistent when adjusting for the CrowdStrike benefit in the third quarter and the negative impacts of Hurricane Milton and the election in the fourth quarter.”

The airline’s president said that he was encouraged by the backdrop of its revenue performance to continue improving, especially as extra JetForward initiatives begin yielding benefits.

JetBlue’s guidance indicated that in 2024, the airline should reduce its capacity by 4.5% to 2.5% YoY, with revenue decreasing by 5% to 4% YoY. In Q4, ASMs should decrease by 7% to 4% YoY, with revenue following suit with a drop of between 7% and 3% YoY.