Aircraft
JetBlue Tweaks Capacity Outlook on A321neo Delivery Delays
The New York-based airline calls Airbus’s production challenges “very disappointing.”
JetBlue's first A321neo takes off on its maiden flight from Mobile, Alabama, in June 2016. (Photo: Airbus)
JetBlue's first A321neo takes off on its maiden flight from Mobile, Alabama, in June 2016. (Photo: Airbus)

What Airbus characterizes as “challenges” involving the ramp-up of its A321neo Cabin Flex (ACF) option have left JetBlue “very disappointed” in resulting delivery delays that forced the New York-based airline to adjust its schedules in 2020 to reflect 2 percent lower capacity growth than originally planned. Speaking during the airline’s second-quarter earnings call with securities analysts, JetBlue CFO Steve Priest reported that of 13 A321neos expected to arrive this year, the airline would take just six. For 2020, a revised schedule now calls for delivery of 14 A321neos rather than 15, leaving JetBlue with seven fewer of the model at the end of 2020 than projected during last October’s Investor Day.