JetBlue Airways Corporation (JBLU) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the 2021 Annual Meeting of Stockholders of JetBlue Airways Corporation. It is just on 9:00 in the morning here in New York on Thursday, May 13, 2021. I'm Robin Hayes, JetBlue's Chief Executive Officer. On behalf of our directors, officers and crewmembers, I thank you for attending our Annual Meeting. We are pleased to be hosting a Virtual Annual Meeting this morning and welcome all of you attending via the Internet. We are holding a virtual-only meeting this year for a few reasons. We value innovation, and we welcome the expanded access, improved communication and cost savings for our stockholders and JetBlue afforded by this virtual format. As we have learned in the past, hosting a virtual meeting enables increased stockholder attendance and participation on locations around the world, which provides for a more meaningful forum. In addition, the virtual format allows us to communicate more effectively via a premeeting portal that stockholders were able to enter by visiting www.proxyvote.com. I'll say again, www.proxyvote.com. And logging in with your control number prior to this Annual Meeting. I'm pleased to announce that this year, we have received a record number of premeeting questions. This meeting is being webcast live and recorded and will be available on the Investor Relations section of our website at www.jetblue.com, that's www.jetblue.com. Now I would like to welcome the directors of the company who are joining us today. Virginia Gambale, Director since 2006, will be stepping down from the Board today and not standing for reelection at the meeting. We'd like to thank Virginia for her incredible 15 years of exemplary service to the company. 9 of our current Board members are standing for reelection today. Monte Ford, who was appointed to our Board in early 2021 is standing for election by our stockholders for the first time. I would also like to thank the members of our leadership team who are participating today and recognize that many JetBlue crewmembers attending online; Stephanie Hollander and Will Copeland of Ernst & Young LLP, JetBlue's independent auditors; Dennis Glazer, Counsel to the Board of Directors; and [ Keith, Irena and Mia ] of Latham & Watkins, LLP, Counsel to JetBlue. I now call the JetBlue Airways Corporation Annual Meeting of Stockholders to order. We will proceed with the formal business of the meeting as set forth in your notice of Annual Meeting and proxy statement. With that, I would like to turn it over to our General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, Brandon Nelson.

Thanks, Robin, and good morning, everyone. Following the presentation of each of the proposals, there will be an opportunity for discussion of those items. After conclusion of the official part of our meeting, Mr. Hayes will review the company's recent business activities. The meeting will be conducted in accordance with the rules of conduct available on the meeting web page. Please remember, all attendees may submit questions at any time during the meeting. There is no need to wait until later in the meeting. If the questions relate to a proposal, they will be read and addressed following that proposal's introduction. General questions will be addressed in the Q&A session after Mr. Hayes' remarks on the company's business. All stockholders of record as of March 18, 2021, were able to submit their questions prior to the meeting and are able to continue to submit their questions live during this meeting at www.virtualshareholdermeeting.com/jblu2021. We will try to answer as many of these questions as time permits during the Q&A session. We have provided each stockholder of record as of March 18, 2021, with a notice of Internet availability of our proxy materials, including information on how to access our proxy statement and annual report. Copies of these documents are available to any stockholder. Instructions on how to access the proxy materials over the Internet or to request a printed copy may be found in the notice. The agenda for today's meeting and the rules of conduct of the meeting are posted on the Annual Meeting web page. Please familiarize yourself with these rules and abide by them at all times. Let us turn to the official business of the 2021 Annual Meeting. Our Board of Directors adopted resolutions providing for the virtual meeting to be held at this time and place, directing that notice be given as provided in the bylaws and fixing March 18, 2021, as the record date for determining which stockholders are entitled to notice of and to vote at this meeting. On or about March 29, 2021, JetBlue stockholders as of the record date were sent notice of the Annual Meeting stating the time and location of the meeting with the Internet address to participate virtually and the meeting purpose along with the proxy statement and the Board's recommendations with respect to each proposal to be voted on at this meeting. A list of stockholders entitled to vote at this meeting has been available for inspection for at least the past 10 days at the company's Long Island City's support center and remains available during the Annual Meeting on the Annual Meeting web page. Dora Habachy and Scott Park have been designated to act as inspectors and judges of election, have filed with me their oaths as inspectors and judges of election and have provided me with a duly executed certificate of quorum. The stockholders' list shows that holders of 316,636,886 shares of common stock of the company are entitled to vote at this meeting. We are informed by the inspectors and judges of election that there are represented in person or by proxy, 277,161,828 shares of common stock or approximately 88% of all of the shares entitled to vote at this meeting. Therefore, I'm pleased to announce that there are present more than 50% of the outstanding shares of the company and a quorum for this meeting is present. The virtual meeting has therefore been duly called and lawfully convened under the company's bylaws and the requirements of Delaware General Corporation Law for purposes of transacting such business as may properly come before it and a quorum of stockholders is present. A copy of the notice, the proxy statement and the form of proxies as well as an affidavit of distribution of Broadridge Financial Solutions shall be made a part of the record of this meeting. Finally, other than the stockholder proposal included in the proxy statement related to this meeting, there are no stockholder nominations or proposals for business properly filed with me as the Corporate Secretary. The matters to be voted on at today's meeting as listed and described in the proxy statement related to this meeting are: one, to elect 10 directors named in the proxy statement related to this meeting; two, to approve, on an advisory basis, the compensation of our named Executive Officers or "say-on-pay" vote; three, to ratify the selection of Ernst & Young LLP as the company's independent registered public accounting firm for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2021; and four, to vote on a stockholder proposal to reduce the special meeting threshold if properly presented at the Annual Meeting. The polls for voting on all matters are hereby opened at this time, 9:09 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time, May 13, 2021. Any stockholder of record for this meeting may vote at this time, through www.virtualshareholdermeeting.com/jblu2021. On behalf of the Board of Directors of the company, I would like to express my appreciation to all stockholders who returned their proxies. The proxies solicited by the Board of Directors and the ballots cast will be tallied at onetime even though they contain several matters for consideration. You may now vote at any time until the polls are closed. The first item of business is the election of directors to serve until the 2022 Annual Meeting of Stockholders and until such time as their successors are duly elected and qualified. The nominees are: one, B. Ben Baldanza; two, Peter Boneparth; three, Monte Ford; four, Robin Hayes; five, Ellen Jewett; six, Robert Leduc; seven, Teri McClure; eight, Sarah Robb O'Hagan; nine, Vivek Sharma, 10, Thomas Winkelmann. No other persons having been nominated in accordance with the company's bylaws, the nominations are now closed. Are there any questions related to the election of directors? If so, please type in your questions now. The second item of business is the approval on an advisory basis of the compensation of our named executive officers as described in the proxy statement. Are there any questions related to this proposal? If so, please type in your questions now. The third item of business today is the ratification of the selection of Ernst & Young LLP by the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors as the company's independent registered public accounting firm for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2021. Are there any questions related to this proposal? If so, please type in your questions now. The fourth item of business today is a stockholder proposal to reduce the special meeting threshold if properly presented at the Annual Meeting. Operator, please open Mr. Chevedden's line.

Hello. This is John Chevedden. Can you hear me okay?

Perfectly. Thank you. The proposal and supporting argument is contained in the proxy statement and is deemed submitted. Mr. Chevedden, if you wish to make a statement in support of the proposal, please do so. You have up to 4 minutes for your presentation.

This is proposal 4, special shareholder meeting. Shareholders request our Board to take the steps necessary to amend the appropriate company governing documents to give the owners of a combined 10% of our outstanding common stock the power to call a special shareholder meeting. If you have voted against this proposal, please consider changing your vote before the polls close in a few minutes. JetBlue shareholders need the right for 10% of shares to call a special shareholder meeting due to their current useless right to act by written consent. Currently, it takes the formal backing of 25% of all shares to do so little as to ask for a record date for written consent. Why would any group owning 25% of our stocks seek to do so little to get a date on a calendar for management when a smaller group of shareholders owning 20% of our stock with less effort can compel management to hold a special meeting on a topic of their choosing? Door #1 is the date on the calendar for -- from management and door #2 takes less effort and fewer shareholders and compels management to hold a special shareholder meeting. Thus, door #2, a special shareholder meeting, is the clear choice and our current right -- written consent right is thus useless. Hence, no shareholder group in their right mind would ever choose to try to act by written consent when it's so much more effective to call for a special shareholder meeting. Clearly, shareholders, when made aware of the uselessness of our current right to act by written consent would not approve it, yet management claims that shareholders did approve it. This shows how management abused shareholder engagement by withholding key information on written consent in order for management to claim that it got shareholder approval. JetBlue shareholders need a more reasonable stock ownership threshold to call for a special shareholder meeting because they're so-called right to act by written consent is useless. Please vote yes, special shareholder meeting, proposal 4.

Thank you, Mr. Chevedden. For the reasons stated in the proxy statement, the Board has considered this proposal and recommends a vote against the proposal. Are there any questions relating to this proposal? If so, please type in your questions now. Thank you, operator. Please close, Mr. Chevedden's line. This concludes the introduction and discussion of the proposals for this meeting. The vote is being taken on the foregoing 4 matters presented at this meeting. If there are any stockholders attending the meeting who have not already submitted a proxy and wish to vote their shares, you may do so now by clicking on the vote here button on your screen. If you have previously provided your proxy card or voted online, your shares will be voted accordingly. If you wish to change your vote, you may do so now. The master ballot is being cast by the proxy holders. [ Mr. Chackowicz ] has provided me with the master ballot, which was cast by the proxy holders. Please note that this is the last call for votes. [Voting]

The polls for voting on the matters presented for a vote at this meeting are hereby closed at this time, 9:16 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time, May 13, 2021. I've received the inspectors and judges' certificates of the votes cast. The preliminary vote report is as follows: each nominee listed in proposal 1 received the affirmative vote of more than 50% of the number of votes cast. Each of the proposals 2 and 3 received more than 50% of the shares of voting stock represented at the meeting and entitled to vote. Accordingly, each of the directors nominated has been elected and each of the proposals 2 and 3 has been approved. Proposal #4, the stockholder proposal asking the Board to reduce the special meeting threshold has received less than 50% of the shares of voting stock represented at the meeting and entitled to vote. And therefore, the proposal is not approved. We expect to report our final voting results on each of the 4 proposals on a current report on Form 8-K to be filed with the SEC.

The preliminary inspectors and judges' certificate of the votes cast is accepted as presented, Mr. Nelson. Please safeguard the ballots, proxies, the inspectors and judges' oath and inspectors and judges' certificates and maintain them among the records of the company. We thank all of our stockholders for their participation. There being no further business, the Annual Meeting is hereby adjourned.

As a reminder, Mr. Hayes will now make some remarks on the company's business. I'd like to remind you that statements made today, which are not historical or current facts are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. They reflect management's current expectations or beliefs. Future results could differ materially from those in this presentation depending on many risk factors, some beyond our control, including, but not limited to, those presented in the company's most recent annual report on Form 10-K and Form 10-Q and other public statements made by the company and filings made with the SEC. Other than as required by law, the company disclaims any obligation to revise forward-looking statements made today based on future events or information.

Thank you, Brandon, and thank you to all of our owners listening to our meeting and to our amazing crewmembers in our Blue Cities and support centers all across our network who have tuned in today. I'd like to take a moment to remember the 12 crewmembers from our JetBlue family that we have lost to COVID-19. We'll always -- we will always remember the impact of their contributions to our company and our culture. Our hearts go out to their families, their friends and of course, fellow crewmembers as it does to all of those who have been impacted. I'd like to acknowledge our crewmembers who own JetBlue stock, including via the Crewmember Stock Purchase Plan. Today, approximately half of our crewmembers are also owners of JetBlue. I want to thank our crewmembers for working to serve our customers with incredible passion and determination through the most difficult time in our history. We have overcome many challenges together presented by this pandemic, and we have set the foundation for JetBlue's recovery and future success. Today, I'll begin with an update on our environmental, social and governance efforts, an area where JetBlue continues to lead our industry. These investments in the business and our crewmembers make us a stronger team, help mitigate business risk and enhance our long-term financial returns. Last quarter, we announced our goal to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2040. We have also redoubled our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion. We're accelerating our efforts towards building a more diverse fleet of leaders, creating greater access to aviation career paths and helping ensure a robust talent pipeline through our emerging talent programs. A couple of weeks ago, we reported our results for the first quarter. We have seen meaningful progress in the demand recovery and has started to gain momentum from the groundwork we have laid to emerge from the crisis as a stronger JetBlue. We operate in high-value geography with a low-cost leisure model that positions us well for the recovery. Along with the trusted brand, we have the best crewmembers in the industry. Our teams continue executing our comprehensive recovery plan, which includes the 3 pillars of reducing our cash burn, rebuilding our margins and repairing our balance sheet. So let's start with cash burn. We've generated positive cash from operations in March, the first milestone towards achieving positive EBITDA and returning to profitability. We've been executing initiatives around network, commercial, fleet, cost and capital allocation, all designed to help us rebuild our margins and ultimately repair our balance sheet. With respect to network, we remain focused on strengthening our 6 focus cities. In the past year, we have shown our ability to be nimble and opportunistic as we expanded our route map to better serve areas of relative demand strength. We've also taken advantage of unique opportunities that would not have been available to us before the pandemic, including growth at LAX and Newark. In New York and Boston, we launched a unique alliance with American Airlines that delivers more flights and more low fares, a trusted brand and outstanding service to more customers. Lastly, we expect to soon bring our award-winning Mint and Core products and low fares to the transatlantic market starting later this summer on service to London. Moving now to our commercial initiatives. We continue to implement our plan to improve our unit revenues over the coming years. We've updated our fare options platform to competitively cater to price-sensitive customers with our Blue Basic offering. In addition, we continue to make progress with our new revenue management system. We are starting to see the benefits from our investments in JetBlue Travel Products. This year alone, we have seen attach rates, gross sales, bookings and margins at all-time highs for JetBlue Travel Products. Finally, we are getting to -- ready to announce the outcome of our co-brand credit card RFP, which we expect to help us close the gap in loyalty revenue to our peers over the next few years. On the cost front, we remain committed to executing our plan to keep our costs low as capacity comes back. Since the start of the pandemic, we have gone deep on our cost structure with a focus on our fixed cost base, adding to the continued momentum from our prior year multi -- our prior multi-year structural cost program. Our low-cost business model is critical to JetBlue as it enables us to compete with low fares while driving higher margins. We continue to reshape our fixed and variable cost base to provide a path to produce better than 2019 CASM ex-fuel in 2022. Regarding fleet. Our order book of next-generation aircraft will help us execute our network plans while producing structurally better margins. We are so thrilled that our first A220 entered service last month. This platform provides 30% better cost efficiency per seat compared to our EMBRAER 190s. We are also excited to introduce our reimagined Mint experience with transcon flights from JFK to LAX on our Airbus 321neo. I was also pleased to take delivery of our first Airbus 321LR 2 weeks ago from Hamburg, which will serve the U.K. market. Lastly, we plan to maintain a balanced approach to our capital allocation, investing in aircraft as we build our margins while also reducing debt. We plan to pay down high-cost debt as we produce positive cash from operations. We also intend to continue a strategic and measured approach to return to investment-grade metrics and to a debt-to-cap ratio between 30% and 40%. As we continue to navigate the challenges of the current year, we are so optimistic about our future. Our business model places people and culture at the heart of our company. We have a truly great opportunity ahead of us and have laid the foundation to make JetBlue a stronger airline for years to come. None of this is possible without our crewmembers. So a big thank you to our 20,000 crewmembers for their incredible hard work and dedication during the most difficult and challenging period in our history whilst continuing every day to live the mission to Inspire Humanity. I'd also, of course, at this Annual General Meeting, like to thank our owners and shareholders for your continued support.

Thank you, Robin, for that review of the company. At this time, we would be happy to take questions from our stockholders. As Robin previously indicated, we have received over 40 questions via the premeeting portal. So those who submitted questions, thank you. We will do our best to answer as many of -- as many questions as possible, and we'll group together those that relate to the same subject. Other guidelines for the question-and-answer session are included in the rules of conduct for the meeting. The first series of questions relate to JetBlue's PAC. How does JetBlue -- how does the JetBlue PAC decide which politicians to contribute to? Why does JetBlue involve itself in political issues? Robin?

Yes. Thank you for the questions on this. It is a very important topic. Just for sake of clarity, JetBlue doesn't make direct contributions to elected officials. The PAC is funded by voluntary crewmember donations and so is distinct from our JetBlue Crewmember Crisis Fund contributions. JetBlue does everything we do through a nonpartisan lens. The -- our actions reflect really what's important for our crewmembers, and so donations from JetBlue's PAC have historically been aimed at efforts to bring JetBlue service, for example, to more destinations, create jobs in new markets and provide more affordable air options for customers, who maybe have been suffering from high fares in communities without JetBlue service, and also to make sure we will maintain a competitive position in the market. We think it's very important to have relationships with candidates on both sides of the aisle and so that we can maintain a voice in the room on issues that are important for our crewmembers.

We received many questions on our network strategy. There were several questions related to very specific destinations, including LAX and Newark's -- sorry, New York's Stewart Airport. With us today, we also have Joanna Geraghty, our President and Chief Operating Officer. Joanna?

Thanks for the question. As Robin mentioned during his opening remarks, our business is predicated on a low-cost, low-fare business model that provides a superior product, in service in high-value geographies with large population centers. Our 6 focus cities include New York, Boston, Fort Lauderdale, Los Angeles, Orlando and San Juan. During the pandemic, we took the opportunity to expand and diversify our now -- our route now while also adding certain point-to-point flying to leisure destinations such as Florida and Cancun. We also took the opportunity to further strengthen our New York focus city by growing our presence at Newark, where we can bring low fares to more customers and increase the catchment area that does not largely overlap with LaGuardia and JFK. The pandemic also presented us with an opportunity to move our West Coast base from Long Beach to LAX, where we were historically constrained with respect to infrastructure. While we wanted to operate international flights from Long Beach, a proposed custom facility was voted down by the city council, meaning we needed to depart Long Beach. We are pleased with our move as L.A. is growing and performing very well. We've since added service to Mexico and Central America, something that we were, frankly, unable to do at Long Beach. That said, service to a number of cities like Stewart does remain suspended at this time, as we continue to evaluate the current economic climate and travel demand going forward.

Thank you. Next series of questions were regarding transatlantic. How can JetBlue be successful on transatlantic routes when others have failed. Robin?

Yes, yes, Brandon, thank you, again, for the question. We're so confident in being able to profitably disrupt the transatlantic business just like we did with the transcon business 5, 6, 7 years ago. London is actually the #1 market that we don't serve today from either Boston or New York. And so our planned service to London is really about adding relevance and strengthening both our presence in Boston and New York. This, together with our alliance with American Airlines, which will allow us to continue to grow and add more low fares, we think, positions us really well in both of these markets. A difference between us and many of the airlines that have not been successful is that we already have a large and loyal customer base both in New York and Boston, who want this service. These airlines that have not been that successful didn't really have that at all. We're also building a product that is unique. And as we've seen before, when we launched Mint back in 2014, is the combination of our crewmembers, our superior product and low fares that wins the game. We're also very happy with the Airbus 321LR platform. It's the right size for us and is really the way for us to dip our toe into the transatlantic market in a thoughtful way. And just for some context, we fly to over 100 cities. We have just over 270 airplanes in our fleet. We'll be taking 3 long-range airplanes this year. So when you think about it in the grand scheme of our network, it really is a very modest part of it.

Thank you. As a related question that's come in live, a shareholder has asked, can the A220, the Airbus A220 fly transatlantic?

So our plans to start service is with the 321LR. The A220s that we have on order, 70 of them, are really to replace our 190 fleet and also some longer-haul domestic flying.

Thank you. We received a series of questions regarding the potential relocation of JetBlue's corporate support center. With us today, we also have Steve Priest, JetBlue's Chief Financial Officer. Steve?

Good morning, Brandon, and good morning, everyone, on the phone. Our current lease in Long Island City expires in July 2023. We are now reviewing our options in the current real estate market and considering how our space requirements may evolve in a hybrid work environment postpandemic. We have terrific options in both New York and Florida and are exploring a number of paths, including staying here in Long Island City or moving to another space in New York City and/or shifting a number of New York-based roles to our existing campuses in Florida.

Next, we have a 2-part question. The first one is regarding the company's approach to dividends. The second part is regarding airfare discounts in lieu of not issuing a dividend. Steve?

Thank you, Brandon. As a reminder, under the CARES Act, we are currently not permitted to pay out dividends. At this point, we have no plans to pay dividends. [ And as a growth airline ], we believe that reinvesting our earnings in our fleet and our crewmembers provides the best return opportunities. We believe in our organic plan and are obviously working hard to execute it.

Next question, how will JetBlue compete in Florida? Joanna?

Thanks, Brandon. We are the #1 airline in the Northeast to Florida corridor. We started operations with our first flight from Buffalo to JFK to Fort Lauderdale, and over 5,000 of our crewmembers are based in Florida, where it's also home to our JetBlue University training campus and the headquarters of our JetBlue Travel Products subsidiary. This year, we added 2 new destinations, Miami and Key West, and we've also added new routes connecting other Florida cities to our existing Blue Cities as part of this year's 130-plus route expansion. To compete effectively in not just Florida, but across our network, we continue to leverage our trusted brand, our unbelievable crewmembers committed to JetBlue's success, our superior product and service, our largely domestic leisure and VFR with a history of serving these markets and a lower cost structure than legacy carriers. Florida is going to continue to see growth as it's a key part of our network in an area that has been largely resilient throughout the pandemic. And frankly, this is the type of leisure travel that JetBlue was born to do.

Thank you. We have a question regarding M&A opportunities or mergers and acquisitions. Robin?

Thanks, Brandon. I think we get this one every year. Look, we're on the back side of a pandemic here. We're building our business after a historic time. I'm extremely delighted about the plans we have here to allow us to rebuild our margins and repair our balance sheet. We have a series of revenue initiatives. We will continue our focus on costs. We are excited about a number of the fleet changes that are underway. So as a leadership team, we are very focused on that recovery. We're very focused on executing our organic plan and delivering long-term value for our shareholders, and that's what we're getting on with.

Next series of questions regarding our approach to developing alternatives to fossil fuel, fossil carbon-based fuels for aviation. Robin?

No, thank you for the question. This is an extremely important topic for our -- for JetBlue but also our industry. And in fact, this was a topic that JetBlue was very active on even coming into the pandemic. It's quite clear for all of us that an industry, this is something we have to tackle as an industry together. Our commitment to net zero carbon by 2040 for JetBlue is a more aggressive target than exists out there for many airlines but it's because it's a very important and critical issue for us to tackle. So there are a number of things, both in the short term and the longer term, that need to come together for us to deliver on these commitments. JetBlue is investing billions of dollars in new, modern, more fuel-efficient aircraft, which will make a meaningful contribution to a lower-carbon future. We've also been extremely active in the area of sustainable aviation fuels, which I think was really the genesis behind the question. We are using them today out of San Francisco. Availability is, as I think people know, extremely limited. And so we're very active on the policy front, both here in the U.S. and globally, to help spur greater investment and therefore, availability of SAF. We actually began purchasing and flying on sustainable aviation fuel, in SAF, back in 2020 out of San Francisco. Over the life cycle, this fuel offers up to 80% lower -- the carbon footprint from this fuel is up to 80% lower. So it's a really, really exciting development for our industry. So as I mentioned earlier, all our focus today is ensuring that this is an industry that can scale up. And we have to work with partners across many parts of this industry to make that happen. Longer term, we are interested in alternative fuel's models for airplanes. So we're watching the electric aviation industry very closely. We think for larger and longer journeys, that still -- there's still a number of technical -- technological challenges that have to be overcome. And we've also, through our JetBlue Tech Ventures subsidiary, invested in a company that is exploring hydrogen fuel as a longer-term option for greener, low and zero-carbon energy generation for airplanes. So a lot going on, and appreciate the question.

Thank you. We have a question regarding our new fare options offering. Joanna?

Thanks. We feel very strongly that customers should not have to choose between low fares and a great experience. We do need fully defined products and price points, however, to compete with different airlines. In today's travel, one size does not fit all. Travelers, they do value different things. We also go head-to-head with both legacy carriers with premium offerings as well as low-cost carriers with stripped-down service. And frankly, the ultra-low-cost segment has grown dramatically, and we faced growing ULCC presence in many of these markets. On JetBlue, regardless of the fare, every customer gets our award-winning service, the most legroom in coach, free high-speed WiFi, free in-flight entertainment, free brand name snacks and drinks, and best of all, our great in-flight service. Our changes to our Blue Basic fares make it a true ultra-low-cost option, while preserving all of the wonderful amenities at JetBlue. It also allows us to be more competitive in the ULCC segment and offers customers who purchase this fare flexibility for a fee, something unique. Our Blue Fare, our standard fare is one of the best standard fares in the industry. And we've now made it even better by guaranteeing overhead bin space for those traveling using this fare within the United States.

Thank you, Joanna. Speaking of free, will you offer free meals and free upgrades for Mosaic? Thanks.

We love our Mosaics, and we're always evaluating our loyalty program to offer the best value. Today, our Mosaics enjoy extra points per dollar of spend, free same-day switches, 2 free checked bags, free in-flight beverages, free same-day space available, even more spaced seats, expedited security and early boarding. And actually, in 2021, we also offered free companion passes through May 10 as well as special benefits for those who earn even more qualifying points through the balance of the year. As mentioned, we'll continue to evaluate this program and make sure that it meets the needs of our Mosaic customers.

Thank you. We have a question regarding the pace of hiring at JetBlue as the airline recovers. Joanna?

We're very excited to be in a position where demand trends mean we're going to be welcoming more crewmembers to JetBlue, particularly after the challenges we all faced during the pandemic. We're now hiring across our network, mainly for operational roles to support the ramp-up in-flight activity that we're seeing. And we've created several programs to help feed the talent pipeline, particularly for pilots and maintenance technician roles, with an emphasis on diversity, equity and inclusion.

Thank you. Next question, how do you become a candidate for the Board of Directors?

Oh, yes. Thank you. Really appreciate the question. Serving on the Board, of course, is a tremendous responsibility and one that I know is extremely important for our shareholders. So the way the Board tends to work is that the Board continuously evaluates the skills and experiences of the current Board members and also how these may change as the needs of the company or the Board evolves. And we do include in our proxy a skills and matrix experience so we can share with our owners, the skills and experience of our current Board members. Candidates come to the attention of the corporate and Governance and Nominating Committee, which is a group of Board members from the Board, really through a number of sources. It can be through a search firm. It can be through current Board members, stockholders, offices, employees of the company or really other stakeholders that we work with. As I say, they will then be evaluated by the corporate Governance and Nominating Committee and then the full Board. And then that then leads, in some cases, to a nomination to serve on the board.

Thank you. Turning to another live shareholder question. Are there any new route opportunities being investigated for the A220 fleet? Long, skinny transcon point-to-point routes come to mind, an example, Buffalo, San Francisco. Joanna, do you want to take that?

Sure. Thanks. We love our Buffalo team up there in Northern New York. So the A220, we have 2 of them now, we're really excited about what its capabilities are. It absolutely has the ability and the range to go to the West Coast. As Robin mentioned, right now, the plan is to use it as largely a replacement for our E190s line. But if I were a betting person, it will find its way all around our network over the next, hopefully, several years and beyond.

Great. Thank you. Another live question, please advise the preliminary percent vote for proposals 2 and 3. As we indicated, the proposals were approved, and we will file the results via 8-K in the coming days. So thank you for the question. Another live question, what is the total CEO pay for 2020 and for 2019? I'll refer you to the summary compensation table that appears in the proxy statement, noting that it includes the salary reductions taken by the CEO over the course of 2020 due to the pandemic. Another -- next question, can we allow birds in a cage on Board for a fee if they fit under the seat in front of them? Can we sell seats to people for bigger dogs, such as bulldogs? Maybe we can give them the option of buying the whole row. Joanna?

As a dog owner, I love my dog. Unfortunately, Duke will not make its way on a JetBlue flight because of his size. We do recognize how much people love their pets but also acknowledge that it's a shared cabin. And there's a lot of other customers that we have to make sure are comfortable as well, both pet lovers and non-pet lovers alike. We currently limit carriage to pets and dogs on JetBlue flights. Regarding extra seats, customers may always purchase additional seats for themselves. But unfortunately, their furry friends must be placed in carriers underneath the seat in front of them. Frankly, [ it was enough room in the carrier to be able to move around in it comfortably ]. I'd encourage you to take a look at our JetPaws program on jetblue.com. It's a great program and speaks to how much we love your pets as long as they are cats and dogs under certain weight limits.

Thank you, Joanna. Next question comes in regarding stakeholder capitalism. And I will paraphrase a bit here. Could you discuss the Board's perspective on the concept of stakeholder capitalism and what principles the Board would use to balance the interest of varied stakeholders as it develops and implements the company's long-term business strategy? Robin?

Yes -- no. Thanks. I really appreciate the question. And this is one, obviously, we all spend a lot of time thinking about. It's -- I think going back to over 21 years ago now when JetBlue was founded, it really was a mission-based company. The mission of the company back when it was founded by David Neeleman was to bring humanity back to air travel. And JetBlue is always taking a very sort of a stakeholder beyond things where we have our owners or our shareholders. We have our crewmembers who are critical to the success of our company. And we have our customers. And that's not just people that fly JetBlue, but also people who live in the communities that we serve. And so we've always -- for over 20 years now, taking a very, very important view about -- we don't just want to fly to an airport. We want to serve community. So we've had a significant commitment to corporate and social responsibility. We were a leader -- early leader in advocating for solutions in the aviation industry for climate change, perhaps before many airlines were talking about it because we recognize the greater community and societal benefits of doing so. And so we continue to balance all of those stakeholder views. Successful companies in the long term find ways of doing that, and that's what we're committed to do. But I also think we put our money where our mouth is. And for the leadership team, for the first time this year, part of our long-term incentive plans are connected to JetBlue executing on its commitments to both diversity, equity and inclusion and also sustainability. 2 very, very important issues that I know -- for both our crewmembers and the communities that we serve. So thank you for the question. We appreciate it very much, and you can count on us to continue to be a leader in this area.

Thank you, Robin. Going -- turning to another live question. Is there a new estimated completion date for the A320 cabin refresh? Steve?

Oh, thank you, Brandon. Great question. So we're incredibly excited about the transformation of our A320 fleet, completely refreshed cabin interior, also increasing our capacity from 150 to 162 seats on those respective aircraft. We are continuing to restyle them as we progress through 2021 and expect the program to be completed in the following year in 2022.

Thank you, Steve. Next question is regarding the company and the Board's approach to executive compensation. I will read it in part given its length. And the question is, would you or the chair of the Compensation Committee, speak to whether JetBlue might be better served by an executive compensation plan tailored specifically to the company's particular circumstances and its unique, long-term, strategic business plans?

No, thank you for the question. Again, another very important topic. And I think if you look at the history of how JetBlue's approach to compensation and the approach that's been taken by our Compensation Committee, we really have done just that. We have adapted our plans over the years to reflect the needs of the business. So for example, if you -- the long-term incentive plan that we have just put in place really reflects 3 priorities. First of all, the need to rebuild our margins, which I think for an airline after the year we've had, it's critical. For us to grow, for us to continue to create jobs and offer low fares, we clearly need to become profitable again. So that is a very tailored and specific part of our incentive plan. Second -- the second part of the incentive plan is the need to repair our balance sheet. Again, airlines have taken on significant amount of debt during this period, and it's important for our long-term viability and success that we pay that debt back down as soon as we can. And so the second part of our incentive plan recognizes our commitment to do that. And the third part, as I was touching on in a previous question, really reflects some of the broader stakeholder views and other factors that are important to our industry. Sustainability is critical to aviation. If aviation is going to be successful over the next 10, 20 to 30 years to grow without sort of regulatory interference or people who deem flying as something they no longer want to do because of the concerns about the impact on the environment. Diversity, equity and inclusion. Our commitment to diversity is also going to make us a much better company. And so we have specific targets and commitments in there to support those goals. Our Comp Committee will continue to challenge the leadership team and make sure that the plans we're putting in place are making sure leader executive compensation is aligned with the long-term success of JetBlue, and therefore, the long-term value creation for our shareholders.

So that concludes the question-and-answers portion of the meeting. We've answered all the questions that were submitted in advance and live. So thank you. So with that, Robin, over to you to close.

Thank you very much, Brandon, for navigating us through another Annual General Meeting. To Joanna and Steve, thank you for being on the phone. Thank you to our Board members, who have successfully been reelected for another year. Thank you to Virginia, who has served on our Board for 15 years, who has stood down. But most importantly, thank you to all of our stockholders for your questions and engagement. That will now complete the question-and-answer period. Thank you to everyone who has attended JetBlue's 2021 Annual Meeting, and thank you for your continued support.