JetBlue Airways sold another 12 of its grounded Embraer 190 regional jets in the third quarter of 2025 and had six Airbus narrowbody jets out of service due to engine maintenance at the end of September.
The New York-based airline ended the third quarter with 283 aircraft – all A220s and A320-family jets – in its operating fleet, three fewer than three months early, the airline said on 28 October, the day it released its third-quarter financial results.
The fleet changes come as the carrier progresses with a financial turnaround plan called “JetForward” that has seen JetBlue trim capacity and adjust its flight network in an effort to return to profitability amid difficult market conditions.
The airline lost $143 million in the third quarter, compared to a $60 million loss in the same period last year, with third-quarter operating revenue slipping 1.8% year on year to $2.3 billion.
JetBlue in June secured a buyer for the last of its 25 owned E190s and for 59 of the type’s GE Aerospace CF34 turbofans. In September it operated its last E190 flight.
The company began selling those remaining E190s in June and in third quarter offloaded 12 of the jets and 20 of the engines for a net gain of $24 million. At the end of September, JetBlue still held 18 parked E190s, including 13 owned jets and five leased aircraft set to be returned to lessors.
At end-September, six of JetBlue’s Airbus jets were grounded due to maintenance required as a result of Pratt & Whitney’s recall of PW1000G geared turbofans (GTF). That figure is down from the end of June, when JetBlue had eight Airbus jets out of service due to the recall. The engines power the airline’s A220s and A320neos.
JetBlue expects the maintenance will leave its A320neos out of service for roughly 300 days, while its A220s will be down for about 200 days.
“We expect to average fewer than 10 aircraft groundings in 2025. We believe we are past the peak number of groundings and expect the number to reduce as we progress into 2026 and fully resolve by the end of 2027,” JetBlue says.
