Hayes said in September that JetBlue would probably bring down “obscene” fares on flights across the North Atlantic. He said JetBlue has the potential to replicate the success of its Mint premium product, a service with lie-flat beds, on trans-continental U.S. routes. Hayes said the offering improved passenger experience while halving fares on flights from New York to San Francisco or Los Angeles.

To traverse the ocean, JetBlue is considering converting some existing aircraft orders to the long-range version of Airbus SE’s A321.

“It makes a lot of sense,” said Joshua Schachter, senior portfolio manager at Snow Capital Management, which own JetBlue shares. “There are certainly risks, but the opportunities outweigh those risks.”

The company is also adding more airline experience to its board, which previously only had two industry veterans plus Hayes. In August, the company appointed Ben Baldanza, former CEO of deep discounter Spirit Airlines Inc., and an expert on fees passengers pay beyond their ticket price. JetBlue also named Sarah Robb O’Hagan, CEO of an indoor-cycling company, whose past experience includes a stint as marketing director at Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd.

Share Slide

The challenge is that growth, especially with new routes to Europe from cities such as Boston and New York, will add to JetBlue’s cost pressures. New and pending labor contracts are adding to the concerns, as are operational issues that continue to see the carrier near the bottom of the industry in on-time performance.

Pretax income has fallen by at least a third over the last three years, JPMorgan Chase & Co. analyst Jamie Baker told Hayes during a conference call in July. “It seems like the more you grow, the less you earn,” he said.

JetBlue is in the midst of a three-year effort led by Chief Financial Officer Steve Priest to reduce annual structural costs by $250 million to $300 million before 2021.

It’s also looking for help from new planes, replacing Embraer SA E190s with Airbus SE A220 jets that should reduce costs and help boost pretax profit margins, Priest said. But the aircraft don’t start arriving until 2020.

That leaves JetBlue facing a test of whether it can entice investors in the shorter term.