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JetBlue CEO Robin Hayes is ready for the fight of his life

Updated Feb 21, 2023, 12:27pm EST

JetBlue is awaiting word in the next few weeks on whether the U.S. Justice Department will sue to block its $3.8 billion deal for Spirit Airlines, which would combine the sixth- and seventh-biggest U.S. carriers. (Politico reports it’s likely to.) CEO Robin Hayes says he’ll defend the deal in court and is dug in for a fight that could last into 2024.

The budget carrier has spent two decades nipping at the heels of the Big Three — Delta, American, and United — and complaining loudly about their grip on the market, a product of decades of consolidation. He’ll now have to fine-tune that argument in a Washington that’s cracking down on mergers of all kinds.

We also touched on the industry’s annus horribilis, whether the 2020 bailout was worth it, and, of course, recline etiquette.

Liz Hoffman said:

Hi Robin, thanks for doing this. Can you send me a selfie and tell me where you are?

Robin Hayes said:

Hi Liz, I’m here in our New York support center — which is what we call our main office.

Liz Hoffman said:

That’s quite a word cloud…

You’ve been a pretty vocal critic of airline consolidation for years and now you’re taking part in it. Why?

Robin Hayes said:

Today 4 large airlines dominate about 80% of the market. By combining JetBlue and Spirit, we can create a national challenger to these four airlines and bring more low fares and better service.

Liz Hoffman said:

You’ve said you’ll defend this deal in court if needed. If it ends up there, what will the government have gotten wrong, in your view?

Robin Hayes said:

We share the DOJ’s concern about the lack of competitiveness and have been making that point for years. The DOJ has recognized how important the JetBlue Effect is because we lower fares and bring better service, causing legacy carriers to react to us. They simply need to allow us to grow more places.

Liz Hoffman said:

A lot can happen in a year. By the time AT&T owned Time Warner they didn't even want it anymore. You’re not worried about the cost of pursuing this to the end?

Robin Hayes said:

Those deals were more about spreading into new businesses.

This deal expands our core business into markets where there is simply no room for us to grow because the big 4 carriers have locked up all real estate. This will give us a path to growing our relevance in places where we already know customers will love our low fares and great service.

Liz Hoffman said:

You've got a separate antitrust fight over your alliance with American in the northeast. Would you throw that as a chit to the DOJ to get Spirit through?

Robin Hayes said:

Customers will benefit most if we have both. The Northeast alliance brings more competition in New York and Boston where two legacies dominate the market. The Spirit transaction allows us to grow across the country, and we’ve already offered divestitures in the northeast to make sure JetBlue and Spirit combined will be no bigger than we were before in NY/Boston.

Robin Hayes said:

Here’s a good view on where we will finally have a big enough presence to go up against the legacies in their hub markets. The orange dots show that.

Liz Hoffman said:

Taking on American in Dallas, Delta in Atlanta, United in Chicago… pretty ambitious.

Robin Hayes said:

We’ve been taking on these legacies successfully for 23 years. We just want to do it more places.

Liz Hoffman said:

OK, moving on. Southwest is the industry's villain du jour. But you’ve been there, with a meltdown last spring. Why does this keep happening?

Robin Hayes said:

Last year was tough for everyone … ramping back up after significant COVID challenges proved to be difficult both in the US and around the world. Since we adjusted down our schedule last spring, we’ve operated well and had very good completion of our flights.

Liz Hoffman said:

Speaking of COVID, we're coming up on the 3-year anniversary of the pandemic. Should taxpayers be satisfied that the airline aid was money well spent?

Robin Hayes said:

Airlines lost billions of dollars during COVID. The government payroll support program went directly to Crewmember paychecks. Without that, there would have been mass furloughs and layoffs, and most likely would have been spent paying unemployment. So I would say yes, it saved our airline industry from an unprecedented pandemic.

Liz Hoffman said:

Ok. And just in case you haven't yet said something you'll regret -- recline or no recline?

Robin Hayes said:

Recline with respect! It’s always good to be considerate of your neighbors, but we’re proud of having the most legroom in coach and comfortable, spacing seats.

Robin Hayes said:

Also our Mint seats recline into a full bed!

Liz Hoffman said:

I’ll have to give that a try. We’re a few minutes late in wrapping this up, but technically still within the FAA’s on-time window 😏 good to catch up.

Robin Hayes said:

Hope to see you in Mint soon!