JetBlue Airways
JetBlue Airways is a United States low-cost airline. It was founded by David Neeleman in February of 2000. The company is headquartered in the Forest Hills neighborhood of New York City, New York, and runs almost all of its flights to and from John F. Kennedy International Airport, although it has recently begun a smaller hub operation at Long Beach Airport near Los Angeles, California, and plans to open another mini-hub at Logan International Airport in Boston, Massachusetts in 2004.Its fleet consists entirely of Airbus A320 aircraft, although it will begin delivery of 200 Embraer 190 regional jets in 2005. JetBlue's A320's offer live multichannel television programming at every seat, delivered by the DirecTV satellite service.
Several of JetBlue's executives, including Neeleman, are former Southwest Airlines employees. JetBlue has followed Southwest's approach of offering low-cost travel, but has sought to distinguish itself with its amentities, like all-leather seating and aforementioned in-flight entertainment. In Neeleman's words, JetBlue seeks "to bring humanity back to air travel." JetBlue's success has been closely watched in the airline sector: Delta Airlines started a rival carrier called Song, and major airlines like American Airlines and United Airlines are seeking to launch their own low-cost carriers in the future. Industry pundits, however, have commented that Southwest and JetBlue's competitive advantage comes from the low costs and high outputs that the latter two generate.
JetBlue is one of only a few U.S. airlines that has made a profit following the sharp downturn in airline travel following the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks.
