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American Airlines and JetBlue will be teaming up to help each other sell seats, giving passengers an increased opportunity to travel to various areas around the country.
What’s happening:
- American and JetBlue said Thursday they will form a new partnership that allows them to sell seats on each other’s planes.
- This gives the airlines more ownership over the New York and Boston area.
- The move “could give them a better shot at fending off competitors like rivals Delta Air Lines and United Airlines,” according to CNBC.
- This will help travelers earn frequent flyer miles on rides, too.
- “JetBlue has always had great, great brand strength in New York and Boston, which American for years, we struggled to be relevant in those two markets. By contrast, American has immense relevance for customers across the Midwest, the Southeast ... and even a big global reach too.” — Vasu Raja, chief revenue officer of Fort Worth, Texas-based American Airlines, told CNBC.
Why now?
- According to the companies, the move is supposed to “accelerate each airline’s recovery as the travel industry adapts to new trends as a result of the pandemic.”
- “Pairing JetBlue’s domestic network with American’s international route map creates a new competitive choice in the Northeast, where customers are longing for an alternative to the dominant network carriers,” JetBlue president Joanna Geraghty said in a statement. “The next step in our plan to accelerate our coronavirus recovery … and fuel JetBlue’s growth into the future.”