JetBlue Airways (JBLU) CEO Joanna Geraghty joins Catalysts from the Skift Global Forum to discuss the role of activist investors in the company and the termination of its merger agreement with Spirit Airlines (SAVE).

Activist investor Carl Icahn's Icahn Enterprises (IEP) has acquired two board seats at JetBlue, putting pressure on the company as it seeks to return to profitability. "I think it's great when you're aligned with your activist shareholder and board members," Geraghty explains. She continues, "JetBlue is undervalued and we strongly believe that. We've got a number of really important strengths — whether it's the slots, the gates, our network, our people, our product offering — and we want to make sure that we're getting more value out of that."

She notes that JetBlue's Jet Forward program, the company's strategy to return to profitability, had full support from the board — including the two seats held by Icahn Enterprises. She adds, "We're focused on transparency and making sure that everybody is on the same page. It's a great company, a great brand, great people, and we need turn things around and everybody's aligned from that perspective."

As airliners have had a rocky year navigating various safety issues, Geraghty stresses that "safety is always the number one priority for JetBlue." She explains that the company has a non-retribution culture where employees can feel comfortable to come forward and discuss any issues.

"The moment that you have a culture where people feel that they can't come forward and disclose things is where I think things start to take a turn in a direction that's not so great. If you don't have a safe airline, a safe manufacturing facility, then the brand, the experience, none of that really matters," she tells Yahoo Finance.

After JetBlue announced it terminated its merger agreement with Spirit Airlines, Geraghty says that there are no other mergers on the horizon as the company focuses on getting back to profitability. "We're focusing on reminding customers about what makes JetBlue special. We need to be profitable. We want to be loved. And we're going to continue to double down on that and focus on our strengths."

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This post was written by Melanie Riehl