Could a JetBlue domestic first class be around the corner? Some top industry analysts think so.
Speculation on the topic gained momentum last week when the New York-based carrier reported its quarterly earnings, with executives using the occasion to lay out a far-reaching plan it’s calling “JetForward” — a strategy meant to return the carrier to profitability for the first time since before the pandemic.
The plans include pushing back deliveries of 44 new Airbus jets, and the ongoing network shake-up TPG has reported on for months, in which JetBlue is trying to double down on its East Coast leisure roots.
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But leaders also left breadcrumbs to a potential major announcement in the coming months — about some sort of premium product.
“We plan to announce additional exciting improvements to our product later this year. So stay tuned,” CEO Joanna Geraghty told analysts.
President Marty St. George echoed the tease.
“Stay tuned in 2024 for additional announcements about JetForward’s plan to offer more products and perks that our customers value,” St. George said. “Including enhancements to our premium offerings.”
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Analysts predict domestic first class
To be clear, JetBlue leaders didn’t get any more specific than that.
But analysts on Wall Street are already predicting what that might mean.
“We expect JetBlue to enter the domestic first class market in 2025,” wrote Jamie Baker, industry analyst at JP Morgan Chase, joking that the carrier could consider naming such a cabin “Junior Mint” — an ode to its international business class-style Mint cabin that’s been a hit with customers since launching a decade ago.
JetBlue hasn’t confirmed any such plans, nor has it publicly used the “Junior Mint” term.
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What else could potentially be on the table?
It certainly wouldn’t be far-fetched to see plans for some sort of retrofit for aircraft with its legacy Mint seats, now a decade old, which are a quite different experience than its newer suites and studios unveiled this decade: They’re arranged in a 2-2 configuration instead of 1-1, and don’t have universal direct aisle access.
Ultimately, time will tell what JetBlue has in store.
A renewed premium focus
What is clear, though, is that JetBlue is doubling down on premium.
Its forward-looking plan unveiled last week does call for around $400 million in spending between 2025 and 2027 on “products and perks … to capture [a] growing share of premium customers.”
The carrier certainly isn’t alone in that focus.
Budget airlines have made waves in recent months, announcing fundamental changes meant to boost their premium — or at least more premium — offerings that have been a boon to the likes of Delta Air Lines and United Airlines in recent years.
Southwest Airlines in late July said it’s ditching its hallmark open-seating policy in favor of assigned seats and extra-legroom options. Spirit Airlines and Frontier Airlines are offering higher-end ticket options, and blocking middle seats in certain rows like you’ll find in European business class.
JetBlue’s premium standing
For its part, JetBlue already has an ultra-premium product in Mint, found on its transatlantic routes and a growing list of domestic flights, too.
Its newest Mint suites and studios offer privacy doors, lie-flat seats and food that easily ranks near — and probably at — the top of the rankings among U.S. carriers.
But the jets that don’t have the high-end cabins remain a major gap in the airline’s service, said top industry analyst Henry Harteveldt, speaking to TPG earlier this summer — well before JetBlue teased an upcoming premium product announcement.
“JetBlue right now is very binary. You’re on planes that either have Mint, or it’s all coach,” said Harteveldt, president at Atmosphere Research Group, noting that the product gap is especially noticeable among travelers with a connecting flight.
“You can get on a Mint plane and have a wonderful experience,” Harteveldt said. “Then, you get off and board a JetBlue plane that is all coach, and you’re a premium traveler, and you’re sitting there saying, ‘I don’t want to be on this airline.'”
A much-anticipated announcement
Ultimately, adding domestic first class-style recliners could help JetBlue better compete with Delta, Baker, the JP Morgan analyst, wrote. The latter carrier has had broad success with its domestic first-class product, and is a top competitor to JetBlue at key hubs, most notably Boston Logan International Airport (BOS) and New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) — where Delta recently unveiled its stunning new Delta One lounge.
JetBlue has no such plans to compete with Delta — or the other legacy U.S. carriers — on that front.
“They’re extremely expensive,” St. George told me in a June interview.
Bottom line
For now, it’s a waiting game for JetBlue’s eventual premium product announcement. In any case, it comes at a time when the carrier is actively positioning itself for its next chapter — one that comes in the wake of its failed merger attempt with Spirit Airlines and its struck-down alliance with American Airlines.
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