JetBlue Struggled in 2020 but Sees Brighter Days Ahead

The COVID-19 pandemic hit JetBlue Airways (NASDAQ: JBLU) particularly hard in 2020. JetBlue's route network is heavily concentrated in the Northeast: especially New York and Boston. The region bore the brunt of the pandemic in the U.S. last spring. State and local governments responded by implementing travel restrictions such as quarantine requirements. The region's residents have also acted more cautiously (on average) following the initial outbreak than people elsewhere in the U.S.

Depressed travel demand in JetBlue's core markets continued to weigh on the company's results last quarter. Demand trends have remained weak in the early weeks of 2021. Nevertheless, JetBlue executives are optimistic that the airline will make a strong recovery over the next two years.

Last quarter, JetBlue's revenue plunged 67% year over year to $661 million. That marked a big improvement from the 90% revenue drop JetBlue recorded in the second quarter of 2020, but demand clearly remained quite low last quarter. The company posted an adjusted net loss of $1.53 per share. While that beat the analyst consensus by $0.16, it was a bad result by any objective standard.

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Source Fool.com