American, JetBlue will expand cooperation in NY, Boston

DALLAS (AP) — American Airlines and JetBlue Airways said Thursday they will sell seats on some of each other’s flights in the Northeast to strengthen both airlines in New York and Boston, where they compete against Delta and United.

American said the deal will generate enough new passenger traffic to let it launch new international flights from New York’s Kennedy Airport, including service to Tel Aviv and Athens, and revive winter flights to Rio de Janeiro.

For JetBlue, the alliance would help it grow at LaGuardia and Newark airports in its home New York market and bolster its position at Boston’s Logan Airport, where Delta Air Lines announced several new routes before the coronavirus pandemic threw the airline industry into a nosedive.

Regulators could block further mergers of major U.S. airlines, so the carriers are turning to more modest partnerships that still might generate new revenue. That is even more critical now, with travel and airline revenue plummeting during the coronavirus pandemic.

American and JetBlue did not disclose financial terms of their agreement or provide any estimate of how much revenue each expects to gain from offering to sell seats on some of the other’s flights and by linking their frequent-flyer programs.

The timing of the announcement – one day after American warned 25,000 employees that they could be laid off in the fall -- stunned American’s labor unions.

“Wow, it’s surreal,” said Dennis Tajer, a spokesman for the Allied Pilots Association at American. “We cannot imagine a more horridly timed announcement the day after announcing thousands of furloughs.”

American’s pilots were especially peeved because while 2,500 of them are getting furlough warnings, JetBlue pilots – who stand to do more flying because...