JetBlue Airways Corp 2026 Q3 Earnings Call
Review the key takeaways and the transcript of this earnings call.
- JetBlue reported third-quarter RASM growth of 18.4% year over year, roughly 4 points better than the midpoint of its initial guidance, and said revenue materially exceeded initial expectations.
- Demand remained resilient as fares increased, with no meaningful signs of elasticity; both premium and main delivered double-digit RASM growth.
- JetBlue recaptured 87% of higher fuel costs in the third quarter, compared with its initial expectation of 70 to 80 percent.
- Fort Lauderdale RASM increased nearly 15% year over year on more than 65% capacity growth, and Cobrand acquisitions in Broward County increased 55% year over year.
- Third-quarter CASM ex-fuel increased 7% year over year, including approximately 4 points of pressure from summer operating disruptions; the underlying unit cost performance remained within the initial 2.5% to 4.5% guidance range.
- Third-quarter fuel was $3.91 per gallon, 57% higher year over year, and adjusted operating margin improved modestly year over year.
- Quarter-end liquidity was $2.2 billion, including a $600 million undrawn credit facility, and unencumbered assets totaled approximately $7 billion, including $2.8 billion in aircraft and engines.
- Third-quarter capital expenditures were $189 million, below the prior outlook primarily because of the timing of one aircraft delivery and LGA slot payments.
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Transcript
Preview the first fifteen paragraphs, organized by speaker.
Good morning, everyone. My name is Jillian. I would like to welcome everyone to the JetBlue Airways third quarter 2026 earnings conference call. As a reminder, today's call is being recorded. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. I would now like to turn the call over to JetBlue's Director of Investor Relations, Kush Patel. Please go ahead, sir. Thanks, Jillian.
Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us for our third quarter 2026 earnings call. Yesterday, we issued our earnings release and a presentation that we will reference during this call. All of those documents are available on our website at investor.jetblue.com and on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov. In New York to discuss our results are Joanna Geraghty, our Chief Executive Officer, Marty St. George, our President, and Ursula Hurley, our Chief Financial Officer. During today's call, we will make forward-looking statements about our outlook, strategies, and future performance. These statements are based on our current expectations and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. Please refer to our earnings release and SEC filings for information about risk factors that could cause those differences. These statements speak only as of today, and we undertake no obligation to update them.
We may also discuss certain non-GAAP financial measures. Reconciliations to the most directly comparable GAAP measures are included in our earnings materials and are available on our investor relations website. Now I would like to turn the call over to Joanna Geraghty, JetBlue's CEO.
Thank you, Kush. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. I want to start by reinforcing the bigger picture and the progress that we are making. Despite significant fuel headwinds and a challenging summer operation, our revenue performance is among the strongest in the industry, with unit revenue up 18.4% in the third quarter and further acceleration expected in the fourth.
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