The formation of yet another airline partnership failed to excite shareholders of JetBlue Airways Corporation (JBLU) as stock ended in red on Thursday trade on Nasdaq. JetBlue entered into an interline ticketing agreement with Fort Lauderdale based Silver Airways, which offers the highest number of flights in Florida and the Bahamas.
The interline partnership will allow passengers of both sets of airlines to access each other’s network. JetBlue will benefit from Silver Airways’ network in Florida and Bahamas, which include places like Pensacola, Gainesville and The Abacos among others.
Similarly, passengers of Silver Airways will benefit from JetBlue’s extensive operations across the U.S., Caribbean and Latin America. Tickets for the services are now available either through silverairways.com or through different travel agencies and flights are expected to start in early 2014.
Airline partnerships are a strategic key to airline carrier growth prospects. JetBlue remains focused on growing partnerships with both legacy and international carriers to enhance its services and enjoy travel benefits.
Notably, this is the 30th airline partnership for JetBlue. Similar agreements were previously formed with top tier carriers like British Airways, Emirates, Singapore airlines and Latam Airlines Group SA (LFL) to name a few. For Silver, this is the 2nd agreement with a major U.S. carrier as the company operates scheduled flights on behalf of United Express, a service run by United Continental Holdings Inc. (UAL).
We believe partnerships could be a good growth strategy for carriers amid the recent consolidation trend that is being noticed within the airline industry. Partnerships provide an expansion opportunity for carriers without incurring heavy costs as required in mergers and acquisitions.
JetBlue currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). Other stocks worth considering within this sector include Spirit Airlines Inc. (SAVE). Save currently carries a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).
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