JetBlue is struggling along with the rest of the airline industry, but the carrier has found some relief in the form of government assistance and historically low oil prices.
"The travel industry is going to be hit by this. There's no question about it," JetBlue Chairman Joel Peterson told Cheddar. "The hotel and airline industries have been hit as hard as any."
At that point, the airline could resume involuntary furloughs and pay cuts.
"We're hoping not to have to, but we're keeping our eye on that," Peterson said.
United Airlines, by comparison, has told employees that it plans to fire workers come October 1.
The $2.2 trillion federal stimulus package set aside $50 billion for the struggling airline industry, which has seen revenue plummet amid global coronavirus travel bans and lockdowns.
While the pandemic has caused a dramatic drop in revenue, some critics have pointed out that the airlines' financial behavior leading up to the crisis didn't help their case.
JetBlue, for instance, authorized an $800 million share buyback program in September 2019 — approximately 85 percent of the amount of stimulus it just received — that was supposed to run through 2021.
Major airlines, including JetBlue, have since written a letter to Congress promising a suspension of share buybacks if it approved the bailout.
As normal operations resume, Peterson said JetBlue will continue to take precautions by taking passengers' temperature, deeply sanitizing planes, and maintaining some social distancing.
He said that the airline would eventually cut back on routes, but in the short-term the federal government has denied a request from JetBlue to suspend service to other markets under the conditions of the stimulus bill.
One possible reprieve amid this difficult financial and regulatory environment is the sudden drop in U.S. oil prices, which this week saw a future contract dip into the negative.
"Oil is one of the largest expense items," Peterson said. "We spent well over a billion dollars a year on oil, so the savings there will be significant."
Joe Cecela, Dream Exchange CEO, explains how they are aiming to form the first minority-controlled company to operate an exchange in U.S. history. Watch!
A Michigan judge is putting sponges in the hands of shoplifters and ordering them to wash cars in a Walmart parking lot when spring weather arrives. Genesee County Judge Jeffrey Clothier hopes the unusual form of community service discourages people from stealing from Walmart. The judge also wants to reward shoppers with free car washes. Clothier says he began ordering “Walmart wash” sentences this week for shoplifting at the store in Grand Blanc Township. He believes 75 to 100 people eventually will be ordered to wash cars this spring. Clothier says he will be washing cars alongside them when the time comes.
The State Department had been in talks with Elon Musk’s Tesla company to buy armored electric vehicles, but the plans have been put on hold by the Trump administration after reports emerged about a potential $400 million purchase. A State Department spokesperson said the electric car company owned by Musk was the only one that expressed interest back in May 2024. The deal with Tesla was only in its planning phases but it was forecast to be the largest contract of the year. It shows how some of his wealth has come and was still expected to come from taxpayers.
At 100 years old, the Goodyear Blimp is an ageless star in the sky. The 246-foot-long airship will be in the background of the Daytona 500 — flying roughly 1,500 feet above Daytona International Speedway, actually — to celebrate its greatest anniversary tour. Even though remote camera technologies are improving regularly and changing the landscape of aerial footage, the blimp continues to carve out a niche. At Daytona, with the usual 40-car field racing around a 2½-mile superspeedway, views from the blimp aptly provide the scope of the event.
You'll just have to wait for interest rates (and prices) to go down. Plus, this deal's a steel, the big carmaker wedding is off, and bribery is back, baby!
It’s a chicken-and-egg problem: Restaurants are struggling with record-high U.S. egg prices, but their omelets, scrambles and huevos rancheros may be part of the problem. Breakfast is booming at U.S. eateries. First Watch, a restaurant chain that serves breakfast, brunch and lunch, nearly quadrupled its locations over the past decade to 570. Fast-food chains like Starbucks and Wendy's added more egg-filled breakfast items. In normal times, egg producers could meet the demand. But a bird flu outbreak that has forced them to slaughter their flocks is making supplies scarcer and pushing up prices. Some restaurants like Waffle House have added a surcharge to offset their costs.
