JetBlue's pilots have rejected a tentative agreement with management that would have allowed the carrier to implement its full Northeast Alliance partnership with American Airlines.
The vote was a close one, with 54% of the pilots rejecting the deal.
"We train for years and spend nights far from home in order to be a pilot," Chris Kenney, chairman of the JetBlue unit of the Air Line Pilots' Association (ALPA), said after the Tuesday vote. "For any agreement to proceed, JetBlue management must provide acceptable assurances that our jobs are safe and valued for years to come."
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Under the Northeast Alliance agreement, American and JetBlue plan to codeshare extensively from Boston and the New York area. They've also received DOT approval to align their schedule within those markets.
However, said ALPA, the 2018 collective bargaining agreement between JetBlue and its pilots restricts the types of codeshare and joint venture arrangements JetBlue may undertake.
The clause is designed to protect JetBlue pilots from having their jobs effectively outsourced through codeshares to other carriers.
The agreement rejected by JetBlue pilots would have eased those codeshare limits for JetBlue with respect to the American alliance in exchange for a pay raise and "some enhancement in job security," ALPA said.
In a statement, JetBlue said it is disappointed with the pilots' vote, but will move forward with the American partnership.
"The alliance allows JetBlue to grow in the Northeast with new routes and destinations, getting our crewmembers flying again as we recover from the impact of coronavirus," the carrier said.
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The codeshare agreement, as JetBlue and American have envisioned it, would give American customers access to 130 JetBlue routes out of Boston and the New York area's JFK, LaGuardia and Newark airports. Conversely, JetBlue planned to affix its code on 60 American routes.
The partnership has drawn formal complaints from other airlines as well as consumer advocates, who claim that the tie-up could reduce competition in the Boston and New York/New Jersey markets.