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JetBlue said Monday that CEO Robin Hayes will step down next month and be replaced by the airline’s president, Joanna Geraghty, who will be the first woman to lead a major U.S. carrier.
The change at the top will occur on Feb. 12. It comes as JetBlue waits for a federal judge in Boston to decide whether it can purchase Spirit Airlines for $3.8 billion in a bid to grow quickly into a challenger to the biggest U.S. airlines. The Justice Department sued to block the deal, and a trial was held last fall.
Hayes, 57, is a former British Airways executive who joined JetBlue in 2008 and became CEO in 2015. He pushed the airline to start transatlantic flights and create a partnership in the Northeast with American Airlines. The deal with American was disbanded, however, after the Justice Department successfully sued to kill it.