JetBlue urges flight attendants to accept assignments as it races to hire 700 people

JetBlue Airways Her flight attendants urged patience on Friday as she raced to hire hundreds of new employees ahead of what she expects to be a huge travel season in the spring and summer.

“Please don’t turn down a task you’ve been assigned to run; it disrupts the process, let down fellow crew members, and disappoints our customers who depend on us to get them safely to their destination,” Ed Bachlor, Head of Customer Service and Programs, said in an email to flight attendants, which I saw CNBC.

Travel demand has fallen faster than airlines expected, and they are now trying to hire thousands of workers to handle the spring and summer passenger surge.

Airlines CEOs this and last week told investors they expect strong demand — and customers’ willingness to pay more for tickets — to help cover the recent rise in fuel prices.

“We are still not profitable after two years and are now facing high fuel prices and other inflationary pressures that are making it difficult for everyone,” JetBlue’s Backpacker wrote to crews. “With strong consumer demand and record hiring, we expect a healthy summer. We’ll see the other side of this if we can count on your continued patience, partnership and teamwork along the way.”

JetBlue did not immediately comment, but CEO Robin Hayes told a JPMorgan conference last week that the industry faces capacity constraints driven in part by employees.

Bachlor told crews that the airline was on track to hire 700 new pilots and flight attendants before the summer and that the company simply did not want to hire for peak periods because that could mean more staff during the post-summer monsoon lull.

last week, Alaska Airlines The flight attendants union reached an agreement to offer double fare after flight attendants fly more than 100 flights per fare, a unit of payment based on flight length, each month through May.