JetBlue Strengthens Ties With HA To Boost Hawai'i Travel

In a customer-friendly move, JetBlue Airways Corporation (NASDAQ:JBLU) has decided to expand its codeshare agreement with Hawaiian Holdings’ (NASDAQ:HA) subsidiary — Hawaiian Airlines. The expanded partnership will simplify travel to the Hawaiian Islands via Boston's Logan International Airport.

The deal allows JetBlue customers in the Boston area to buy tickets on Hawaiian Airlines' non-stop flight (expected to operate from Apr 4, 2019) to Honolulu using JetBlue's ‘'B6'’ code. Additionally, through the frequent-flier partnership, passengers can earn points courtesy of the TrueBlue program. We note that Boston will be Hawaiian Airlines’ second U.S. east coast destination. Currently, it operates non-stop flights connecting Honolulu and New York.

Coming back to the expanded codeshare deal, it will allow passengers from 26 U.S. destinations like Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh to travel to Hawai'i. This is currently not possible through JetBlue in New York as it does not operate non-stop flights connecting the cities with New York’s JFK Airport.

Moreover, they can buy codeshare tickets carrying Hawaiian Airlines’ ‘’HA’’ code on JetBlue’s connecting Boston flights and JetBlue's ‘’B6’’ code on Hawaiian Airlines’ Boston-Honolulu flights. Subsequently, they can use ‘’B6’’ code on Hawaiian Airlines’ flights connecting Honolulu to the entire island chain.

JetBlue Airways Corporation Price

JetBlue Airways Corporation Price | JetBlue Airways Corporation Quote

In fact, a codeshare deal allows sharing of flights, which implies that a passenger can avail any flight operated by either of the companies under the agreement, irrespective of the flight number.

We note that JetBlue and Hawaiian Airlines already have an agreement in place since 2012. We expect investors to remain focused on whether this strengthened partnership will turn out to be as profitable as desired once operations start.

Zacks Rank & Key Picks

JetBlue currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). A few better-ranked stocks in the Zacks Transportation sector are Norfolk Southern Corporation (NYSE:NSC) and Matson (NYSE:MATX) , both carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Shares of Norfolk Southern and Matson have gained 8.4% and 12.5% in the past six months, respectively.

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