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JetBlue (JBLU) to Cut Summer Flights to Avert Disruptions

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JetBlue Airways (JBLU - Free Report) plans to trim its summer schedule to avoid flight disruptions as the company boosts hiring efforts ahead of the peak travel period, a CNBC report stated.

JBLU has reduced its May capacity by 8-10% and expects similar capacity cuts for the remainder of summer.

U.S. airlines are aggressively hiring to meet an expected spike in spring and summer travel demand. Staffing shortages amid a spurt in travel demand last summer led to multiple flights being canceled in the United States. JBLU said that the company has hired 2,500 people so far this year but is still facing shortages.


JetBlue has already canceled more than 300 flights over the weekend. In early April, bad weather conditions in Florida led to multiple flight cancellations and delays by several U.S. carriers, including JetBlue.

As air-travel demand continues to rebound from the pandemic-led slump, staffing shortages are becoming more prominent during the peak travel periods. Alaska Airlines, the subsidiary of Alaska Air Group (ALK - Free Report) , plans to trim its schedule by 2% through the end of June due to a pilot shortage. The airline has already canceled several flights earlier this month due to staffing constraints.

Per the CNBC report, Alaska Airlines said, “We’ve recently let down some of our valued guests by canceling an unusual number of flights.” The airline further added, “The primary cause of cancellations is the shortage of pilots available to fly versus what was planned when we built our April schedule in January.”

Both JetBlue and Alaska Air carry a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Key Picks

Some better-ranked stocks within the broader Transportation sector are as follows:

Golar LNG Limited (GLNG - Free Report) carries a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). The company has an impressive earnings surprise history, having outperformed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in three of the past four quarters while missing in one. The average beat was 49.8%. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Shares of Golar LNG have rallied more than 100% in a year.

Textainer Group sports a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). The company’s earnings have outperformed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the trailing four quarters, the average beat being 21.6%.

Shares of Textainer Group have gained more than 18% in a year.


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JetBlue Airways Corporation (JBLU) - free report >>

Alaska Air Group, Inc. (ALK) - free report >>

Golar LNG Limited (GLNG) - free report >>

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