JetBlue CEO Robin Hayes said she will retire from the airline in February after more than eight years at the helm “on medical advice” and “due to the extraordinary challenges and pressures of the job.” “To.” [that] Their sacrifice was great. ”
“It's time to put more emphasis on my health and well-being,” the 57-year-old airline veteran announced in a statement. press release on monday.
Hayes, who was promoted to the top job at JetBlue in 2015, will be succeeded by Joanna Geraghty, JetBlue's chief operating officer, on February 12.
Hayes, who was an executive at British Airways for nearly 20 years before joining JetBlue, will remain on the company's board until he retires next month, at which point he will remain as a strategic advisor. Geraghty will join the company's board of directors, according to a press release.
“While it is bittersweet to leave the airline I love, I will always feel a part of the JetBlue team and will support its continued success,” Hayes said.
Representatives for JetBlue did not immediately respond to The Post's request for comment.
Hayes' departure comes in the wake of JetBlue's proposed $3.8 billion acquisition of low-cost carrier Spirit Airlines.
JetBlue has argued that acquiring Split will help it compete with rivals such as United Airlines and Delta Air Lines, but the Justice Department disagrees, saying the merger would eliminate millions of American travelers. It sued the New York-based airline last year, claiming it deprived it of low-cost flight options.
The Justice Department's complaint alleges that competition between JetBlue and Spirit has brought “lower fares to hundreds of routes across the country,” benefiting cost-conscious consumers.
The lawsuit, filed in March 2023, argues that eliminating competition would “make travel unaffordable for many cost-conscious travelers.” JetBlue plans to remove 10% to 15% of seats on Spirit planes as part of the partnership, people familiar with the matter said.
But JetBlue's lawyers pointed out that the four largest U.S. airlines (United Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and Southwest Airlines) control 80% of the domestic market.
Meanwhile, JetBlue and Spirit's combined market share is about 8%.
Just last month, U.S. District Judge William Young raised the possibility that the deal could proceed if JetBlue sells more assets as the antitrust case concludes.
Mr. Young told JetBlue's lawyers that he expected airfare prices to rise once the no-frills, ultra-low-priced spirit was no longer “overwhelming competitors” and driving prices down.
But the judge, who will decide the case in a non-jury trial in Boston, said: “The Department of Justice's permanent injunction blocking trade in a dynamic industry that faces unique opportunities and challenges… “We have a problem,” he told both sides. In the post-COVID-19 environment. ”
Young said JetBlue, which has already agreed to sell gates and slots at airports in New York City, Boston, Newark, New Jersey, and Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to address U.S. regulators' concerns. raised the possibility of further sales.
