Bluedriver

I don't see it as a stretch at all. But I don't know what they will do. SWA of course hubs Houston and Dallas. JB has large bases in NYC, BOS and has talked about a BDL base. MCO and FLL aren't far apart. They will keep LAX and LAS. They don't mind, and in some ways even prefer bases close together as they get word of mouth advertising from adjacent markets and get broad regional loyalty.

IAH and DFW wouldn't be connection hubs anyway, and the local catchment metros have zero O&D overlap.

Will be interesting to see what they do.

CincoDeMayo

IAH and DFW are further apart than BOS and JFK. The market in DFW and IAH are as different as BOS and JFK. So the notion of "they are both in Texas," doesnt really hold water. Also consider SWA with bases in both markets, there is clearly a demand for the LCC product. I would be surprised to see if JBLU leave/shrink the DFW market and allow AA to continue to "AA" and to allow SWA to grow in DFW.

Who knows at this point? Lots of things to happen before bases are opened/closed. Much better chance of NK closing these bases if the merger fails vs JBLU closing them, IMO.

BusBoi

This was given to B6 IFCs (inflight crewmembers), not NK FAs, as part of a recent pay increase agreement. It's on the B6 TWU webiste.

I cut and pasted it here:

NO FURLOUGHS FOR 7 YEARS
If TWU remains the bargaining agent, once the merger
closes, no JetBlue IFCs will be furloughed as a result of the
merger for 7 years, except in limited instances (Conditions
Beyond the Company's Control / Force Majeure)

BASE CLOSURES / DISPLACEMENTS

“Base” is considered a geographical base - not Y or Z.
If TWU remains the bargaining agent, once the
merger closes, no JetBlue Flight Attendant bases will
be closed for 7 years, except in limited instances
(Conditions Beyond the Company's Control / Force
Majeure / Divestiture by Court Ruling)

So it seems to assert that no JETBLUE IFC base will be closed. It says nothing about current SPIRIT FA bases. It also says, but does not define, "geographical base". For all we know Dallas/Houston and Chicago/Detroit could be one "grographical base".

Another devil in the details: this says if, and only if, TWU is elected as the union to represent the combined FA group. Word on the street is that the jetBlue IFCs prefer to switch to AFA. In which case this is all a moot point.

Bluedriver

You're right, I forgot about that.

Flyby1206

no JetBlue Flight Attendant bases will
be closed for 7 years,

So places like IAH/DFW/DTW/ORD aren’t considered JB bases right?

BusBoi

Well, a bit of ambiguity. When the merger closes and we're all one company, you could argue all bases are "jetBlue bases". Again, it's ambiguous and I don't have the answer.

Bgood

He was saying they would pick DFW over IAH but not keep both, and pick DTW over ORD. Doesn't necessarily mean the flying would be significantly reduced out of IAH and ORD though.

Bluedriver

Seems reckless to be saying that when the judge hasn't even decided yet. I wouldn't want word of any closures out at this time.

likeitis

Close but not exactly. He said DTW has more flights than ORD and DFW has more flights than IAH. So it would be more logical to keep DTW over ORD and DFW over IAH for crew bases. I will assume he is correct with the flight data.

golf59

I would guess both Detroit and Houston would be more likely to stay open if only because of the hanger space available. Nothing requires the combined company to keep those hangers or to have pilot bases where those hangers are though.