Why JetBlue’s Investors Are Hoping It’s Looking to Spirit for Inspiration
Photo Credit: JetBlue's premium Mint service features 15-inch flat screens with up to 100 channels of DirecTV and 100+ channels of SiriusXM radio. JetBlue
Skift Take
The JetBlue of 2015, 2016 and beyond likely won't resemble the JetBlue that we have known, but the question becomes how far with the airline take the merchandising tack that it is definitely pursuing.
Do you remember the outcry last year when Southwest launched an advertising campaign that seemed to neglect its maverick roots in favor of an-all-grown-up corporate image?
That little brouhaha would pale in comparison to the coming storm if some JetBlue shareholders and a Cowen & Co. analyst are correct about the carrier's future direction.
In a research note yesterday morning, Cowen's Helane Becker upped her rating of JetBlue from "market perform" to "outperform" on the premise that JetBlue CEO David Barger would leave the carrier when his contract ends in February 2015, and that JetBlue would toss out some of its relative passenger-friendliness [no fee for the first checked bag] in exchange for a more bottom-line-focused approach.
"We believe a man
