JetBlue Says the Bond Market Has It Wrong

0:29Tasmin Lockwood: This podcast has been brought to you by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. daily briefing. First up, JetBlue is pushing back hard on the bankruptcy chatter. Last week, JetBlue's loyalty bonds slid into distressed territory and the Wall Street Journal reported that a group of creditors had been meeting with restructuring advisors. On Tuesday's earnings call, CEO Joanna Geraghty said there's a significant disconnect between the narrative and what JetBlue's results actually show. The airline reaffirmed its targets, operating profitability by 2027 and a dollar in earnings per share by 2028.

1:05Tasmin Lockwood: It ended the third quarter with$2.2 billion in liquidity. Investors bought it. Shares jumped 21 % midday. Fuel is still the big headwind. JetBlue expects to pay$4.64 a gallon this quarter, so it's cutting more capacity, leaning into Fort Lauderdale and its president says there's still room to raise fares. The bottom line? JetBlue bought itself some breathing room. Now it has to turn fare hikes and cost cuts into a repaired balance sheet before the bond market loses patience again. Next, the Philippines is on track to kill its travel tax. The problem is what that tax pays for. Filipinos currently pay about$25 every time they fly abroad, or$42 in first class.

1:54Tasmin Lockwood: The House approved a repeal in March. The Senate aims to pass its version of the text by year-end. President Marcos has made it a priority. Supporters say it makes travel cheaper for households. Here's the catch. The tax raised about$136 million last year, and half of it funds the Tourism, Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority, the country's tourism infrastructure agency. The proposed 2027 budget includes no replacement funding. The agency says that puts about 95 % of its operations at risk, including upgrades to 10 domestic airports and water and sewage work in El Nido, Curran and Baguiao.

2:36Tasmin Lockwood: Hotel owners have a sharper version of the worry. If a cheaper flight sends a Filipino to Hong Kong instead of Boracay, that money just leaves the country. The takeaway? Cutting a tax is popular. Cutting the funding for the airports and roads that hotel developers are counting on is a much harder sell. Finally, Radisson has its first net zero hotel in Africa and the owner is paying for it. The Radisson Safari Hootsbury near Kruger National Park in South Africa is the group's 10th verified net zero hotel. Most of the earlier ones were leased with the costs on Radisson's own books. This one is managed so the cost and the payoff sit with the owner.

3:19Tasmin Lockwood: It wasn't easy. Most of Radisson's net zero hotels are in the Nordics where the grid is already low carbon. South Africa's grid was about 8.6 % renewable in 2024. On-site solar covers about 20 % of the hotel's power, a renewable energy supply deal took the owner months to negotiate and it doesn't start until April 2027. On-site solar covers 20 % of the hotel's power. A separate renewable energy supply deal took the owner months to negotiate and it doesn't start until April 2027. Radisson's pitch to owners is a rate bump of about 0.3 to 0.4 % with operating costs paid back within a year. Next year it expects about 40 % of the program to be managed and franchised hotels as it aims for 100 verified net zero hotels by 2030.

4:12Tasmin Lockwood: So, net zero is moving off the brand's balance sheet and into the owners. How fast it spreads depends on whether owners outside of Europe believe their payback math. That's it for your Skiff daily briefing. For more industry news, head to skiff.com. And as always, subscribe at skiff.com forward slash daily. Thank you.