JetBlue is cutting flights as it braces for a money-losing 2025

JetBlue does not expect to break even this year due to falling travel demand. The company is also cutting costs by axing some off-peak flights. 

CEO Joanna Geraghty told staff that “even a recovery won’t fully offset the ground we’ve lost this year and our path back to profitability will take longer than we’d hoped,” in an internal memo on Monday, CNBC reports. “That means we’re still relying on borrowed cash to keep the airline running.” 

JetBlue is hardly alone; many airlines are citing a lack of consumer confidence in 2025 due to macro economic uncertainty, with fewer bookings even as fares plummeted. The domestic market is oversupplied, and several large airlines cut back their growth plans for the second half of the year.

JetBlue hasn’t posted a profit since 2019. Starting in 2021, it spent three years pursing a merger with Spirit Airlines, which was shot down in March 2024 when a federal judge blocked the deal. Geraghty had just stepped into the CEO job a month before; she called the Spirit affair a major “distraction.” Last August, JetBlue took on $2.75 billion in debt.

Cost-cutting measures will involve examining unprofitable routes, pausing plans to retrofit some older jets with new interiors, and reassess hiring plans, according to Geraghty’s memo. But the mid-range airline still plans to move ahead with offering premium experiences on high-demand flights to attract more business travelers.

Last month, a new partnership with United Airlines enabled cross-booking and shared frequent-flyer rewards.