History
Founding History of Jet Blue
David Neeleman founded letBlue MTWIaY-i C‘eromtion
in 1999, after raising $130 million in mVeSlmem C3Pi'
tal. Building on his past experiences’ Neelemf‘n hired
talented executives, such as David Barge“ prevlous Vice
president of the Newark, New Jersey, 11”" for Commented)
and lohn Owen, previous vice president 0f Operations
Planning and Analysis for Southwest.‘5 l6"Blue Chose 10h“
F. Kennedy International Airport in New York as its hill)
and initially obtained 75 takeoff and landing Slots.
Neeleman’s vision was to provide “high'end CUStOmer
service at low-end prices?” Although letBlue imitatEd
competitor Southwest Airlines with a single seat Class,
it did so with Airbus A320 narrow-body jets instead of
Boeing 7375. The A—320 provided wider cabins and wider
seats for letBlue passengers with more room for carry—on
baggage.8 letBlue implemented innovative 11‘ programs
such as an Internet booking system that allowed cus—
tomers to make reservations online or with a touchmne
phone, and a paperless cockpit to allow pilots to prepare
for flight more quickly. helping planes to stay on schedule"
JetBlue also provided complementary, unlimited snacks
and beverages, preasSigned seating, and a selection of
first—run movies available from Fox Ithght on flights
longer than two hours. For further differentiation, )etmue
installed 36 channels of free DIRECTV programming.