JetBlue's stock turns positive for the year on merger talk

By Claudia Assis

JetBlue reportedly hiring advisers to explore a potential deal

A JetBlue jet at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. The airline is reportedly exploring options to merge.

Shares of JetBlue Airways rallied by as much as 15% on Wednesday after a report said that it has hired advisers to explore selling itself to a competitor.

Wednesday's rally turned JetBlue shares positive for the year.

The specific scenario to explore would be how the Trump administration would view a deal with Alaska Airlines (AAL), Southwest Airlines (LUV) or United Airlines (UAL), Semafor said, citing people familiar with the matter.

JetBlue (JBLU) did not immediately return a request for comment. JetBlue already has a partnership with United, allowing people to book combined itineraries, among other perks.

United would have an easier time integrating JetBlue, with a limited number of route overlaps and already having a partnership, said Stephen Trent, an independent airline analyst.

JetBlue flies Airbus narrow-body planes, which would make integration with Southwest, which exclusively flies Boeing 737 jets, trickier in terms of synergies for pilots and maintenance crews, Trent said. Alaska is still working out its acquisition of Hawaiian Airlines, completed in 2024.

JetBlue last turned a yearly profit in 2019, and it is also highly leveraged, Trent said. Its guidance for this year was break-even or better, but that was before the conflict in the Middle East sent crude, and by extension jet-fuel prices, skyrocketing.

From a purely discount airline in the 1990s, the company refashioned itself into more of a hybrid airline, offering a business class and some transatlantic flights.

In terms of regulatory pushback, a merger would be an easier matter during the current administration, he said.

JetBlue attempted to merge with Spirit Airlines (FLYYQ) in 2024, but bowed out after regulatory backlash that a merger between low-cost JetBlue and ultralow-cost Spirit would hurt competition. A proposed merger between Spirit and Frontier (ULCC) also fizzled.

JetBlue has struggled to catch up to U.S. majors United as well as Delta Air Lines (DAL) and American Airlines (AAL), which have placed winning bets on perks to attract and retain customers, and sometimes in direct competition for lower fares from the ultralow-cost carriers.

Until Tuesday's close, JetBlue's stock was down nearly 8% so far this year. Wednesday's rally pushed the stock to a gain of about 5% on the year. The U.S. Global Jets ETF JETS is down 10% this year, whereas the S&P 500 index SPX has lost about 4%.

Budget air carriers Allegiant (ALGT) and Sun Country Airlines (SNCY) announced merger plans in January.

-Claudia Assis

This content was created by MarketWatch, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. MarketWatch is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

03-25-26 1648ET