JetBlue just won the right to operate twelve additional round-trip flights out of LaGuardia Airport. They're calling this a victory. They might relocate to the Marine Air Terminal, which is what happens when you win at business.
LaGuardia is the airport equivalent of a gas station bathroom. The Marine Air Terminal sounds like where they send pilots who failed the eye exam. JetBlue looked at this situation and said yes, this is exactly what our shareholders need right now. More exposure to the nightmare that is LaGuardia ground operations.
Spirit gave up these slots because Spirit doesn't exist anymore in any meaningful sense. They're being absorbed into some other airline's balance sheet like a failed organ. JetBlue swooped in to claim the debris. Twelve whole slots. That's twenty-four takeoffs and landings per day if they max it out. The stock moved zero point three percent on the news because even retail traders understand that slot allocation at a congested airport is not a business model.
The Marine Air Terminal is the small sad building at LaGuardia where they used to fly seaplanes in 1939. It still has the original Art Deco murals. JetBlue wants to move there because apparently nostalgia for the Great Depression is their new brand strategy. They're fighting for space at an airport where every gate is a hostage negotiation and every departure is an act of faith.
Airlines fight for slots at LaGuardia the way people fight for the last seat on a subway car. Desperate. Undignified. Ultimately pointless because you're still going to LaGuardia. But sure, let's pretend this is material information that should move markets. Let's all update our models to account for JetBlue's twelve new chances per day to strand passengers in Queens.
Spirit failed so JetBlue could succeed at the exact same thing Spirit was failing at.
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