Report: American Airlines-Jetblue Partnership Talks is disabled
American Airlines and JetBlue have both made public comments supporting the desire to join again after losing an antitrust trial on their “Northeast Alliance”.
The judge in this case was explicit: an arrangement like American Airlines A with Alaska Airlines would have succeeded. And with a new administration, it is not clear if an even more important link would have faced the opposition.
Their previous partnership made American and JetBlue Relevant on the New York market for New York customers. This gave them a lot of flights to compete with Delta and United for customer loyalty. This allowed them to provide elite advantages on a full set of routes. This also made them competitive for the brand’s credit card expenses.
The CEO of JetBlue, Joanna Geraghty, even went so far as to suggest that her airline was in talks to revise something like his partnership with American which was closely to the antitrust decision. She would not confirm that these discussions were Americanly – Although “it can certainly be with the American”.
Unfortunately for New York customers from JetBlue and American Airlines, these discussions are disabled – as reported by Watchdog Jonnyc.
AA:
“Recent discussions to join B6 have become Kaput, so AA is in New York alone in the predictable future”(AA linked, not an official quote -FROM- AA)
– Jonnyc (@ xjonnyc.bsky.social) April 28, 2025 at 5:09 p.m.
There was talk of United Airlines agreeing with Jetblue and speculation that his CEO Scott Kirby flats President Trump prices, and the airline giving $ 1 million to his inauguration, could be hoping to gain antitrust approval for an agreement that would bring United to New York JFK and to strengthen their position in Washington National Airport and in Fort Lauderdale.
Without partnership, American Airlines is left “too small to win, too big to move away” in the words of its former commercial director Vasu Raja. Government controls for locations mean that they cannot develop in an organic way. They are unable to generate the scale to offer enough services to keep New York loyal customers, which lets them compete on the price.
Before the JetBlue Agreement, New York lost money for American for several years, depending on their own accounts. With the JetBlue Agreement, they saw an increase in registration of the AAD further program and the conversion of credit cards, as they were newly relevant to the largest expenses in the country. There are no other game change options.
Unfortunately, instead of a viable New York strategy, American is left to JetBlue for the costs of breaking their partnership.
