Report: JetBlue Negotiating Partnership with United Airlines

With the Northeast Alliance (NEA) officially dissolved—and JetBlue now in a lawsuit with American Airlines over its breakup—the carrier is reportedly exploring a new domestic airline partnership.

A Reuters report on Wednesday suggests that JetBlue is already in talks with another major U.S. carrier: United Airlines.

Reuters, citing “three industry sources familiar with the matter,” reports that the potential partnership between JetBlue and United would look very different from the NEA. Talks reportedly have not included coordination on scheduling or pricing, but instead are focused on a possible codeshare and loyalty agreement.

The report tracks with what JetBlue has been hinting at since the dissolution of the NEA, saying time and time again that it was open and ready to embrace a new partnership. The latest came during comments made during its latest earnings call, when President Marty St. George said the carrier was negotiating a new domestic partnership and an announcement could come by the end of June.

“We have made good progress on discussions regarding a domestic airline partnership and are expecting an announcement at some point during the second quarter,” he said. “This is a domestic airline with a larger network.”

St. George pointed to a boost in the utility of TrueBlue points as the main benefit for JetBlue customers.

“As far as the benefits that we expect to offer to our customers, number one is a significantly higher network opportunity for earn and burn of TrueBlue points, which we think greatly improves the utility of TrueBlue,” he added.