JetBlue Airways surprised by announcing that it is deferring 44 new A321neos through 2030, citing persistent issues with its Pratt & Whitney GTF engines.
“We’ve come to an agreement with Airbus to defer 44 A321neo aircraft, which are the fleet most-impacted by the Pratt & Whitney GTF issues,” said Joanna Geraghty, CEO of the U.S. carrier.
“At this stage, we simply can’t afford to continue taking delivery of costly new aircraft that may need to be parked due to engine availability issues,” added CFO Ursula Hurley.
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As a result, JetBlue will still receive four of these aircraft in 2025, but will only resume taking deliveries of A321neos from 2030 onwards, including the long-awaited A321XLR ultra-long-range variant.
On the other hand, the company revealed plans to receive 56 A220 jets between 2025 and 2029, which should take over a large part of its flight network.
Despite also being equipped with a variant of the GTF, the PW1500G, the A220 is less susceptible to the problems presented by the geared turbofan.
Phase-out of Embraer E190s by 2025
JetBlue also updated the status of the Embraer E190 regional jets, which were very important in the airline’s first years of operation.
The plan is for the 100-seat aircraft to be phased out by the end of 2025, simplifying the fleet. Six of those jets are expected to be retired from service later this year, and the rest next year.
