JetBlue Eliminates Jobs in Step Toward $300 Million in Cost Cuts

(Bloomberg) -- JetBlue Airways Corp. is eliminating an unspecified number of jobs in the latest phase of its campaign to cut as much as $300 million from operating costs by 2020.

The reductions follow a reorganization of certain teams within the airline to streamline operations, the carrier said in a statement Friday. JetBlue declined to say how much it will save with the changes, while calling it a “meaningful step toward our corporate structural cost goal.”

Most of the job cuts announced to employees this week are at the airline’s New York headquarters.

“We need to make these difficult decisions to ensure we are set up for success,” the statement said. The airline is eliminating some open jobs and offering voluntary buyouts to help reduce the number of layoffs, according to Doug McGraw, a spokesman. Customer-facing jobs are not affected.

JetBlue first detailed a cost-reduction plan in December 2016 that focused on four key areas and included efficiency measures such as offering more customer self-service tools, improving aircraft maintenance planning and consolidating or renegotiating various contracts.

The airline had about 17,530 full-time employees at the end of March.

To contact the reporter on this story: Mary Schlangenstein in Dallas at maryc.s@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Brendan Case at bcase4@bloomberg.net, Susan Warren

©2018 Bloomberg L.P.