JetBlue vs Southwest Airlines
Add, change or remove companies; up to four.
The short version
- Southwest Airlines is the larger business, with $28.1B of revenue in fiscal 2025 against $9.1B for JetBlue, about 3.1 times as much.
- Southwest Airlines grew revenue faster (2.1%, against −2.3%).
- Southwest Airlines kept more of each dollar of sales as operating profit (1.5% operating margin, against −4.1%).
- Southwest Airlines turned more of its sales into free cash flow (−3.0% FCF margin, against −12.9%).
- Southwest Airlines earned a higher return on the capital invested in it (3.7%, against −3.6%).
| Latest fiscal year | JBLU · FY25 | LUV · FY25 |
|---|---|---|
| Size | ||
| Market cap | $987M | $20.6B |
| Revenue | $9.1B | $28.1B |
| Free cash flow | −$1.2B | −$831M |
| Net income | −$602M | $441M |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth | −2.3% | 2.1% |
| 5-year growth | 25.1% | 25.4% |
| Share count change | 4.7% | −13.2% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | — | — |
| Operating margin | −4.1% | 1.5% |
| Net margin | −6.6% | 1.6% |
| FCF margin | −12.9% | −3.0% |
| Return on capital | −3.6% | 3.7% |
| Return on equity | −25.3% | 4.8% |
| Balance sheet | ||
| Net debt | $6.3B | $1.8B |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 19.8x | 0.9x |
| Dividends and buybacks | $0.0M | $2.9B |
| Valuation & quality | ||
| P/E | — | 20.4x |
| Piotroski F-score | 3 | 7 |
Revenue
FY16
JBLU $6.6B
LUV $20.4B
FY17
JBLU $7.0B
LUV $21.2B
FY18
JBLU $7.7B
LUV $22.0B
FY19
JBLU $8.1B
LUV $22.4B
FY20
JBLU $3.0B
LUV $9.0B
FY21
JBLU $6.0B
LUV $15.8B
FY22
JBLU $9.2B
LUV $23.8B
FY23
JBLU $9.6B
LUV $26.1B
FY24
JBLU $9.3B
LUV $27.5B
FY25
JBLU $9.1B
LUV $28.1B
JBLU
LUV
Operating margin
FY16
JBLU 19.1%
LUV 17.2%
FY17
JBLU 13.9%
LUV 16.1%
FY18
JBLU 3.5%
LUV 14.6%
FY19
JBLU 9.9%
LUV 13.2%
FY20
JBLU −58.0%
LUV −42.2%
FY21
JBLU −1.3%
LUV 10.9%
FY22
JBLU −3.3%
LUV 4.3%
FY23
JBLU −2.4%
LUV 0.9%
FY24
JBLU −7.4%
LUV 1.2%
FY25
JBLU −4.1%
LUV 1.5%
JBLU
LUV
Free cash flow
FY16
JBLU $782M
LUV $2.3B
FY17
JBLU $305M
LUV $1.8B
FY18
JBLU $292M
LUV $3.0B
FY19
JBLU $517M
LUV $3.0B
FY20
JBLU −$1.4B
LUV −$1.6B
FY21
JBLU $735M
LUV $1.8B
FY22
JBLU −$388M
LUV −$134M
FY23
JBLU −$728M
LUV −$356M
FY24
JBLU −$1.3B
LUV −$1.6B
FY25
JBLU −$1.2B
LUV −$831M
JBLU
LUV
Return on capital
FY16
JBLU 19.1%
LUV 30.2%
FY17
JBLU 20.7%
LUV 38.1%
FY18
JBLU 4.3%
LUV 25.5%
FY19
JBLU 10.5%
LUV 25.6%
FY20
JBLU −23.5%
LUV −42.0%
FY21
JBLU −1.2%
LUV 21.9%
FY22
JBLU −4.4%
LUV 12.2%
FY23
JBLU −3.0%
LUV 2.4%
FY24
JBLU −7.7%
LUV 3.2%
FY25
JBLU −3.6%
LUV 3.7%
JBLU
LUV
Each company's latest fiscal year; fiscal years end in different months. The best value in each row is highlighted where higher (or lower) is clearly better. Not investment advice.