Change is coming at JetBlue. On the heels of two legal setbacks and uncertainty about the company’s future, the C-Suite is getting a shakeup. Next week Joanna Geraghty takes over as CEO, a move announced a month ago. And two weeks later Marty St. George will assume the role of President, returning to the airline after five years away.
St. George was at the carrier for 13 years previously, part of a 30+ year career in the industry. In the intervening years he served as interim Chief Commercial Officer at Norwegian and, more recently, CCO at LATAM. He also held marketing and network planning leadership roles at United Airlines and US Airways.
Major challenges ahead
The good news is that St. George knows the company and culture well. He was well respected among the staff before being pushed out in 2019. But he will face significant challenges from day one.
Both the Northeast Alliance and JetBlue’s planned merger with Spirit Airlines were ruled illegal by courts. Even with an appeal on the horizon for the Spirit deal, odds are low of a reversal. Those were key pillars in the company’s growth strategy in recent years, and they’re both gone.
In its most recent earnings call the company said it will refocus on organic growth and its core focus city strategy. St. George helped architect that strategy during his previous tenure.
The company also plans to put together a $300 million “revenue initiative” for the year. Brett Snyder over at Cranky Flier is optimistic on the plan, or at least the bones of it. Brian Sumers at The Airline Observer is slightly more reserved in his position.
After seeing two recent moves, I was rather skeptical. Adding a fee for “preferred seats” at the front of the cabin is decidedly not about bringing humanity back to travel. Adding a new, best ever bonus on the purchase of TrueBlue points similarly might move the needle a bit on revenue, but it is hardly a creative approach to the problem.
So, what comes next? Presumably some other initiatives are already underway internally. And St. George doesn’t come back into the role until the end of February. It will take some time to get things moving.
But, for the first time in a long time there is a hint of fresh blood within the leadership organization, leaders who were not part of the company’s struggles in recent years. That’s a good reason to believe there’s at least a chance the company can make it work.
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