JetBlue cuts Q4 loss, calls Omicron ‘temporary setback’

JetBlue Airways significantly reduced its loss for the fourth quarter of 2021 as leisure passengers returned to the air in greater numbers. The New York-based company says on 27 January it would have been profitable but for the Omicron variant of Covid-19, and that 2022 will be “transformational” for the company’s bottom line. Omicron, says CE Robin Hayes, was a “temporary setback”. The company lost $129m in Q4, down from $373 in the final three months of 2020, as the pandemic was still in its first year. For the full year 2021, JetBlue lost $182m, a fraction of its $1.4b loss in 2020. If not for an $833m benefit from the US Cares Act and other special items, the airline would have lost $797m in 2021. Revenue during Q4 almost tripled to $1.8b from $661m in the same quarter in 2020. For the full year 2021, JetBlue’s revenue jumped to $6b, from $2.9b in 2020. Q4 2021 revenue was still 9.7% less than JetBlue logged in the same period in 2019. “While Omicron has temporarily weighed on demand in the very near term, we expect sequential month-on-month improvement through the quarter, ultimately returning to sustained profitability in the spring and beyond,” says Hayes. “Were it not for Omicron, we believe we would have generated higher revenue this quarter than in the first quarter of 2019.” The Omicron surge impacted the Northeast USA – specifically the New York City region, where JetBlue has a massive presence – disproportionately, says COO Joanna Geraghty. In addition to customer cancellations and “bookings softness” during what she calls “the most-significant revenue weeks of the quarter”, the airline suffered crew-related cancellations due to illnesses and quarantines.<br/>