I actually tried to post this yesterday and for some reason it didn’t take.
I have to say that I think a lot of you are in denial about jetBlue. Is it the be all and end all airline? No, of course not. No airline is. But I have done some research on jB and, even though I’ve never flown them, I am pretty impressed with their product and corporate structure. I know several people who have flown on jB and they like the airline. I will outline why I am impressed, and why the Big-6 hub and spoke airlines, as well as LUV, should be concerned.
First, jB’s founder and CEO, Dave Neeleman, was an executive at LUV and fired by Herb. If you want to see a great business plan, just find someone who was in the inner-circle of a company with a good business plan, fired, and held to a five-year no-compete clause in a contract (affording an opportunity to plan, plan, plan!). Neeleman took the effective elements of LUV and vastly improved them. He is effectively eliminating a lot of the little inconveniences of LUV… the cattle calls, the seat pitch, the secondary airports, the short hops, and the complete lack of frills. Essentially, jB is a low-cost carrier with all the bells and whistles except a first-class compartment.
jB has a fleet of 41 A-320 aircraft. Future growth within the airline has wiggle room with respect to the fleet, because the airline can easily put in a mix of smaller A-319 and larger A-321, keeping cockpit and galley commonality. The Airbus 320 family boasts a fuselage which is 11 inches wider than its Boeing 373 counterpart, and, if memory serves, is about 20 percent lighter. This translates to significant savings in fuel (a real positive given the FAA’s recent revisitation of weight-and-balance guidelines) and increased seat width. jB is poised to accept delivery of 12 additional aircraft this year and has a total outstanding Airbus order of 123 jets.
jetBlue recognizes that its biggest asset is its employees. That is why it pays and treats them well. It allows its phone center staff to work from home (thereby giving the airline significant savings in office rent, staff can work in their underwear and avoid commutes). I can’t speak to pay for other work groups, but as for inflight, the pay at jB is about 15-25 percent higher than US Airways was prior to concessions, depending on how many hours the flight attendant works. Basically, flight attendants can fly as much as they are legal for. After the 70-hour minimum, pay jumps up to time and a half. Some of you might be asking how they can do this when the Big-6 are laying off and reducing salaries. Well, just think about it… fewer people on they payroll equates to savings in benefits and training, training center staff, recruiting staff, and administrative staff. Flight attendants are happy to work and make the extra money and they aren’t on the brink of poverty. So here, in just two of the major work groups, they’ve made their staff happy and come up with ways to save money at the same time.
In barely three years since it’s inaugural flight, jB now offers service to 22 cities including SJU. It’s current route structure, unlike LUV, is predominantly medium- to long-haul. Only a handfull of its flights are less than 500-miles, and the majority exceed 1000 miles. This equates to more time in the air and less money spent on landing fees.
Now, let’s look at passenger comfort and inflight services. As discussed above, jB’s seats are wider than typical seats on Boeing narrow-body aircraft. They also appear to be "cushier" because they are leather seats. I don’t know what jB’s seat pitch is, but comparing it to the single class US Airways Shuttle configuration on the A320, which have spacious 33-34" pitch and 150 seats (as compared to jB’s 162 seats), and considering that most likely one of the forward galleys isn’t in the jB configuration, I am inclined to think that jB has fairly generous pitch.
As for the TV, I know some folks have downplayed their significance, saying "well, I have a my laptop with DVD." Good point, but not everyone has them. And you might have it, but what if you are flying with your two kids. Do they? Did you have time to stop by Blockbuster and rent DVDs for the trip? What if you don’t return until after your DVD’s are due? Well, jB has come up with the answer… 24 channel Satellite TV complete with NBC, CNBC, the History Channel, Nickelodian/Nick at Nite, ESPN, hell, they even showed the Olympics! Shows to entertain the kids… and believe me this helps ensure that you don’t have some cranky eight-year-old sitting behind you kicking your seat all the way from JFK to OAK. And while there is no argument from me that flight time can serve as quality time with your kids, the fact of the matter is not everyone is a good parent. Parents have their heads in the books completely oblivious that Junior is being a pain in the @ss to other passengers and crew (and, quite frankly, parents don’t care these days). Even if the parents are attentive and conversing with their kids, do you want to hear them during the entire five hour flight? Or if you are travelling alone and trying to read a book, and there are loud people near you and it's difficult to tune them out, you now have an option. I've worked flights where the kids are in the back of the plane while Mom and Dad are in the first class cabin boozing it up. Satellite TV would keep the kids occupied. In the most uncomfortable of seats and seat positions, television can make people forget that they are in such cramped space. The TVs also mean that passengers are less likely to require the attention of the cabin crew. The cabin will be quieter because fewer people will be talking and kids aren’t screaming.
Now is TV going to make the 6’4" guy choose jB over AA? Probably not. But if jB is half the cost, he’ll probably go with the cheaper fare and consider himself lucky that he has something to take his mind off being cramped. As for other airlines installing satellite TV, yes, that could happen, but not soon. Unions will fight it because there are still people out on furlough and the remaining employees are still suffering the effects of the considerable concessions which were forced upon us. U just got out of bankruptcy, UAL is in, and AA is on the brink. I think it will be a while before other airlines get this amenity.
The way I see it, jB is a force to be reckoned with. I say this because they have come up with a great product, made it cost-effective, made it something passengers like, and keep their employees happy. They are well funded and publicly traded. They are taking on the other LCC’s by offering a superior product. They are taking on the Big-6 by offering a superior product and doing it cheaply. They don’t have unions telling them that they must have a mechanic push the plane back. Their timing is good because they are able to get favorable financing terms at a time when the Big-6 are parking aircraft at MHV. As the Big-6 are giving up gates, jB is able to pick some of them up, at some of the most advantageous airports. In just over three years, they serve about 40% of the number of cities LUV has grown to in 30 years. They don’t get folks from OAK to ISP by bouncing them from runway to runway… they get them from OAK to JFK nonstop, in comfortable seats with inflight entertainment and happy, well rounded and appreciative cabin crews.
Don’t underestimate jetBlue.