A majority of JetBlue Airways’ creditors have signed a cooperation agreement that would stop the airline from striking side deals with lenders in the group, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday, in the latest sign of strain on the carrier’s finances.
About 55% of the airline’s lenders have joined the agreement, according to people familiar with the matter cited by Bloomberg. Early members can receive a carve-out premium provision that could give them better recoveries than other lenders in the group, the report said.
The creditor group holds JetBlue’s bonds due in 2031 and its first-lien loan, and is working with advisory-focused investment bank PJT Partners and law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, Bloomberg reported. A separate, smaller group of creditors has also formed and is working with another law firm, Hogan Lovells Cadwalader.
JetBlue carries about $8.4 billion in debt and finance lease obligations and has not reported an annual profit since 2019. The airline has been grappling with higher fuel costs and now expects a full-year adjusted operating margin of between negative 4.5% and negative 6.5%, worse than its earlier July forecast of negative 2% to negative 5%.
The carrier faces loan and lease repayments of $477 million in 2027 and $582 million in 2028, before a larger $1.8 billion debt maturity in 2029, according to its latest quarterly filing. It paid $372 million in net cash interest in the first nine months of the year.
The agreement comes weeks after JetBlue chief executive Joanna Geraghty told Reuters in October that the airline was not in talks with creditors and had no plans to restructure its debt, despite investor concerns sparked by a sharp selloff in its bonds.
JetBlue, PJT Partners, Akin Gump and Hogan Lovells did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.
Sources: Reuters, “Majority of JetBlue lenders sign cooperation deal, Bloomberg News reports” — https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/majority-jetblue-lenders-sign-cooperation-deal-bloomberg-news-reports-2026-11-11/ (reporting based on a Bloomberg News report; the creditor agreement itself has not been independently confirmed by the companies involved).
