According to Susquehanna Financial Group, JetBlue may continue to struggle with its cost structure even after acquiring Spirit Airlines. Analyst Christopher N. Stathoulopoulos downgraded JetBlue’s stock to neutral from positive, saying in a note Tuesday that airline shares have struggled with unit costs and could move on. so after can be bought back. Stathoulopoulos wrote: “Since we started using JBLU in 2019 (HERE), one of the consistent points of opposition from investors has been JBLU’s ability to increase profitability. “While JBLU has made progress in unit cost control since the launch of its Structured Cost Program in 2016, we see a difficult road ahead for LCC if JBLU acquires SAVE. … or in a standalone scenario,” he added. Susquehanna reduced her price target by more than 35%, from $14 to $9. The new price target is still about 11% above Monday’s closing price. A merger with Spirit could mean a combined company with about 66% more seats per mile based on 2019 figures, but “same” costs per available seat mile (CASM). ), the note said. CASM is a measure of how efficient an airline is. Susquehanna looked at airline stocks that could rise on strong summer demand, though the analyst believes the post-Labour Day travel will show which names are and aren’t bought. “While we have yet to find any cracks in the flight booking data, we believe that at some point, consumers will have to come to terms with the economic realities of airfare. higher, overall inflation, and layoffs in some industries (e.g. finance, technology, and media) by 2023,” reads the note. — Michael Bloom of CNBC contributed to this report.