What happened Shares of JetBlue Airways (NASDAQ: JBLU) fell 7% at the open on Wednesday after the airline announced a secondary offering. Selling more stock is by definition dilutive to existing holders, but in this airline's case, investors can't be too upset that JetBlue is adding to its liquidity. So what The carrier said Wednesday morning it would raise about $500 million by selling 36.5 million shares at $14.40 each. That's a small addition to the 270 million shares already outstanding, but secondary offerings by their nature make each slice of the overall pie a bit smaller and tend to cause downward pressure on share price. Image source: JetBlue Airways. In JetBlue's case, it is easy to see why the airline decided that bringing in the extra capital was worthwhile. Airlines have been hit hard by the pandemic, with travel demand well below last year's levels. JetBlue earlier in the week said that it expects fourth-quarter flying to be down 45% to 50% year over year, with fourth-quarter revenue off by 70%. The airline, which expects to burn through between $6 million and $8 million per day in the quarter, had previously expected revenue to be down 65% during the period. Now what JetBlue shares recovered somewhat from the initial sell-off, trading down 3% as of 11 a.m. EST on Wednesday. For long-term holders, the offering is a good news. Shares of JetBlue lost nearly half their value back in March, but the stock has been coming on strong in recent weeks thanks to positive news on the development of a COVID-19 vaccine. We're hopefully at the beginning of the end of the COVID-19 crisis, but it will still take time to get the vaccine widely distributed and travelers flying again. Thanks to the offering, JetBlue has an added liquidity cushion to see out the crisis. That's well worth the little bit of dilution. 10 stocks we like better than JetBlue AirwaysWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.* David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the ten best stocks for investors to buy right now... and JetBlue Airways wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys. See the 10 stocks *Stock Advisor returns as of November 20, 2020 Lou Whiteman has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends JetBlue Airways. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.Source