JetBlue Reducing Flights On Summer Schedule: Here's Why

A newly revealed JetBlue Airways JBLU company email indicates the seventh-largest airline in North America will be reducing the number of flights on its summer schedule.

What Happened: Joanna Geraghty, JetBlue’s COO and president, told company staff in a Saturday email that the airline was taking the action to avoid flight disruptions as a massive influx of travelers is expected in the coming months.

“We’ve already reduced May capacity 8-10% and you can expect to see a similar size capacity pull for the remainder of the summer,” Geraghty said in the email seen by CNBC.

JetBlue continues struggling to reach the necessary staffing levels for the number of flights currently scheduled. JetBlue canceled 191 flights across the country and delayed 497, 48% of its flights, on Saturday. At the time of publication on Sunday, JetBlue had canceled 136 flights and delayed 177 nationwide, according to FlightAware.

In her email, Geraghty said JetBlue remains short-staffed, even after hiring 2,500 people so far this year. “Despite these challenges and, based on your feedback that the schedule is wound too tight, we know the best plan is to reduce capacity now,” she wrote company employees. “We believe this proactive step is the right decision.”

Also Read: Shares Of These 10 Airline Stocks Are Cheaper Than Their Tickets

Purchase Offer For Spirit: JetBlue last week made a $33 per share offer for Spirit Airlines Incorporated SAVE, which equates to $3.7 billion in market capitalization. Although a BofA analyst said the benefits of the purchase were unclear.

The announcement comes about two months after Frontier Group Holdings Inc ULCC, the parent company of Frontier Airlines, announced a $6.6 billion merger agreement with Spirit.  Although, CNBC's Jim Cramer quickly responded to the news, saying he doubts JetBlue's proposal will be approved by federal regulators.