IEOR 171 Case Study III
JetBlue Airways: Starting from Scratch
Ranpreet Battu
Pretycia Darma
Nikolas Krukowski
Ralph Lee
Lorena Nunez
Timothy O’Donnell
Prof. Jon Burgstone
December 1, 2003
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Opening
In February 2000, JetBlue Airways (JBA) launched amid troubled market conditions; most
major airlines were teetering on financial ruin, and the events of 2001 would soon present
unprecedented challenges to the airline industry5. Yet, only two years later, in June 2002 JetBlue had
already completed a successful initial public offering (IPO) and had a market capitalization of $2B
USD in June 20023—three times that of United Airlines. JetBlue was lauded by pundits for its low-cost
yet high-output strategy, similar to that of similarly profitable Southwest Airlines (SWA). However,
JetBlue faced strong challenges ahead: not only were major airlines initiating their own offerings to
capture JBA’s market, but JetBlue needed direction on how to expand successfully again.
Goals
JetBlue’s main goal is to maintain its success of profitable growth without compromising its
values and current accomplishments. Three strategies towards those goals are: hiring employees that
share JetBlue values, serving “not-yet-served” markets, and keeping the camaraderie of a small
company.
The Industry
While profitable and rapidly growing, JetBlue is still dwarfed by the major US airlines in terms
of routes and passengers. By design, JetBlue most resembles Southwest, first as point-to-point carriers.
This route system is most efficient, according to industry experts2. Consumers see this benefit directly,
as both share comparatively low fares. Turnaround times, the amount of time a plane spends on the
ground between flights, is minimized in both for a higher revenue stream. Also, the duo has embraced
“ticketless travel” as a more efficient way of doing business.
JetBlue distinguishes itself by providing luxuries like more comfortable leather seats with more
personal space, new Airbus airplanes, and satellite television in every seat—where everyone can
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choose from a range of 24 channels3. Yet perhaps what customers appreciate most is more
fundamental:
A ride on JetBlue is cool, clean and hassle free, and the price is right. But the important
part is this: while not luxurious, neither is the experience without some flair. People often lump
JetBlue with the likes of Southwest, but in many ways it is the anti-Southwest. Both offer low
fares, sure, but JetBlue's strategy is something more upscale than a get-what-you-pay-for cattle
car. To help save the industry from an all-out Southwest-style descent, it would behoove the
majors to emulate JetBlue's careful balance of style and price.
-Patrick Smith, Salon.com airline columnist and pilot7
What Southwest Does Well
They stole a lot of our people…but the culture will never be the
same…What we’ve got here, [the culture at Southwest], it’s real.
-Southwest Airlines Captain of Flight 834 on 26 Nov 200312
A recent book, published by the author of the case study, espoused The Southwest Airlines
Way. Employees are often cited within the book as the driver of Southwest’s success. In fact, they
seem willing to bet their money on it—As a group, employees are SWA’s largest shareholder9. Yet
while Southwest “pays its people well,” it doesn’t have the highest pay in the industry9. People pay off
for Southwest when the airline achieves 20-minute turnaround times.
Look back. The flight attendants are out there cleaning the seats [to get ready for the
next flight]. On any other airline, they’d have a cleaners come in and the flight attendants
would be out on a smoke break or something.
-Southwest Airlines Captain of Flight 834 on 26 Nov 200312
The elusive factor motivating Southwest’s employees is what JetBlue should strive for.
Southwest is also simply bigger than JetBlue. This allows SWA to offer more flights to more
cities at more times, flexibility that customers are filling the planes for. Its larger size also gives
Southwest more resilience during fare wars4.
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All of these practices help Southwest towards the ultimate corporate goal—making money. In
2002, Southwest recorded a $241M USD profit—the highest of any US airline and #6 worldwide9.
While JetBlue strives to distinguish itself from Southwest3, the Company is well served by following
Southwest’s lead on this metric.
What the Majors are Doing
The Majors—established airlines like American, Delta, and United—are almost all losing
money. In 2002, Southwest, JetBlue, and AirTran combined made a profit of over $300M USD while
American, United, and Delta lost nearly $8 billion9. Thus many of their practices are not to be imitated
by JetBlue, unlike the Southwest Airlines way. Pundits blame this spectacular failure of the majors on
lower income, while they are being consumed by higher costs—several of their pricey leased planes
are unused in the desert. Their traditional hub-and-spoke system—a profitable model when a lot of
people were flying in the growing late 20th century economy—is failing them2. And attempts at starting
discount-style airlines have been hampered by an inability to cut costs as low as JetBlue and
Southwest1.
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JetBlue and People
JetBlue’s goal to expand successfully can be reached by focusing on two main areas: people and
structure/organization.
STRENGTHS
WEAKNESSES
JetBlue Advantages
 Unique approach: customer and
employee friendly.
 Emphasis on Core values:
 Safety
 Caring
 Integrity
 Fun
 Passion
 Service
 Top management team
 Staff
 Communication
 Attitude
 HR approach
 Customized employment packages
 Efficient operations: Less paperwork,
better for pilots
What could you improve?
 Human success highly depends on
“small
company
feeling”
and
customized HR approach.
 Hiring system
 Training and development
OPPORTUNITIES
THREATS
Avoid:
 Changing core values
 One salary model (treat employees as
mass instead of personal options)
 Loosing the company wide team
attitude
 Becoming less people friendly
 Resting on your laurels, avoid
complacency
 Demand in the market for such a
concept of airline is high
 Customers are turning to JetBlue for
prices and destinations.
 JetBlue as a fun and profitable
environment to work at.
 Impossibility to keep core values as
growing.
 Expanding and developing HR and
loosing customized people focus
 Not developing ability to hire the right
people and training
 Employees unionizing
Figure 1. SWOT Analysis of JetBlue and People.
As Ann Rhoades realized, people form the foundation of JetBlue’s success. Crucial to the
Company’s successful expansion are a productive team environment, emphasis on core values, and a
union-free company. Recall the five core values in Exhibit 4: safety, caring, integrity, fun, and passion.
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Job Structure
As the Company grows, JetBlue will need structure in their job design and analysis. These tools
are needed to maintain the “friendly” HR approach with different salary options while the JetBlue
scales to a larger organization. Specific job descriptions help with this effort.
JetBlue’s KSAO (Fig. 2)







Attitude
Productivity
Punctuality
Hard working
Safe (no alcohol,
drugs)
Customer oriented
In the case of pilots:
Computer friendly
and Cultural fit
JetBlue needs people certain knowledge, skills, abilities and other
factors (KSAO) [Figure 2]. While JetBlue may currently be employing these
types of persons, specifically listing its KSAO will provide direction and
structure to future hiring practices. We suggest considering the Job Element
Approach and focusing on the KSAO that JetBlue needs from their
employees in the job design, analysis, and in the hiring process. To address
the issue of team attitude, JetBlue’s approach of considering supervisors as “coaches” is a great
approach. The specific characteristics of these important roles should also be listed and considered.
To keep a union free environment, JetBlue must allow employees to keep a certain degree of
autonomy. It is also crucial to keep the customized employment packages—one of JetBlue’s
competitive advantages in People. The Company’s flexible plans and higher salaries not only attract
potential employees, but keep people happy within the organization, and if the Company provides its
employees with a sense of importance and care, we believe that the Company can provide the a
superior level of support compared to industry unions.
Hiring: Selecting the Right People
JetBlue’s targeted selection process translates values into specific desirable behaviors. This
approach is analogous to the Critical Incident Technique for employee selection. This approach is very
useful but may become costly as the company grows. For example, the existing requirement for
multiple interviewers to arrive to consensus before hiring a new employee can be long and costly.
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There is a need for a more efficient selection and hiring process. The interviews are needed, but
should be kept to a minimum. We suggest having candidates fill application forms that will narrow the
number of potential candidates to be interviewed. Interviews should be made by regional groups of
interviewers, train to select future employees efficiently. After those future employees are selected,
employment tests (psychological and cognitive), ensure that people will fit in the company culturally,
and live up to the company’s expectations and their own commitments.
Orientation, training and development
The initial orientation session with all the company’s areas and top management has proven
highly successful, and thus should be kept, at any size. It emphasizes the importance of the core values,
gives employees a strong sense of belonging, shows top management as accessible people (key to team
attitude), helps align the company’s and all employees goals, and gives workers responsibility over the
firm’s performance.
JetBlue needs a better training process. This orientation can be followed by a one day training
session for each area of the company (flight attendants, coaches, general employees), using the case
analysis method. Using the simulation method with role playing is also highly recommended. After
this intensive training session, beginners can have training on-site, among experienced crews and
under coach supervision.
Coaches play a very important role, and should be trained to be leaders, motivators and role
models. Selecting rising people from crews can be important for this position, help in personnel
development, and let the company keep the good people after their 1-5 years period. Pilots should
receive basic training on the computer programs used by JetBlue. Training pilots for qualification on
A320 is now very expensive. A cost-benefit analysis should be made to decide whether to outsource
this or have this function in-house.
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For personnel development, feedback is very important. As Hackman & Oldham’s Job
Characteristics Model emphasizes, employees must perceive their work is meaningful, associate a
sense of responsibility with the job and get feedback on the results of their work. JetBlue should keep
their 320° performance appraisal. It helps give feedback, encourages employees to better performance
and helps keep the team feeling.
Communication
As mentioned before, to keep the small company feeling, upper management should keep
contact with everybody, employees, no mater their position, should be able to contact them. It
empowers employees to know they have a voice and their suggestions and comments are taken into
account. In this matter, a decentralized flatter organization might be the only possibility. In this matter,
the 320° performance appraisal should be used not only for feedback, but also to strengthen
communication and coherence along the organization.
It is also needed to keep good communication among all levels of the organization, specially a
close relationship with managers and other coaches. Integrity is one of the core values, all employees
are to be held accountable for that.
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JetBlue and Structure
STRENGTHS
WEAKNESSES
JetBlue Advantages
 Efficient operation
 Paperless
 Low cost
 Low fares
 Accurate forecasts (known demand)
What do you do well?
 Efficient operation
 Keeping costs down
 Turning profit in short time
 Paperless
What relevant resources do you have?
 Capital and faith from investors
 Technology
What do other people see as your
strengths?
 Low cost
 Low pricing always
 Know the demand as static
 Turning profit in very short time
 Paperless: less cost and better service.
What could you improve?
 30 minute turnover?
 Frequent flyer program?
 Lacking expansion model:
 Where are they going. Next step?
 Better business plan
 Expand fast enough
OPPORTUNITIES
THREATS
What do you do badly?
 Limited destinations
 Lack of expansion model
Avoid:
 Becoming like the Major airlines
 More seats crammed in planes
 Demand in the market for such a
concept of airline is high
 Good market view of the firm
 Grow in size:
 There are niches and gaps in the
current market.
 Opening a second hub: having
two small locations instead of a
big one
 Offering more flights and destinations
 The organization is highly efficient:
makes it easier to grow.
 Competitors
 Southwest: cheaper is ahead of
time.
 Other big ones: promotions,
other capabilities as size and
power in the market.
 Lack of expansion model
 Not expanding fast enough
 Market conditions
 Managing change
 Keeping level of technology
Fig. 3: SWOT Analysis of JetBlue and Structure
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Location
I’d fly JetBlue if they flew here [to Santa Ana, CA].
-Southwest Airlines Passenger “Billy” on Flight 798 30 Nov 200313
JetBlue’s primary markets have been those largely untapped by other airlines. This strategy
allows JBA to not only avoid costly fare wars but to create new market share. JetBlue’s low fares
make travel by air not only economical but more convenient and pleasant than competing forms of
travel, such as the automobile. By reaching into this largely untapped market of drivers—characterized
by SWA’s CEO as its primary competitor6—JetBlue can get people out of their cars and into airplanes,
like its successful New York strategy.
Destinations should be chosen carefully, as they represent a major investment for JetBlue.
Large population bases and business/tourist hot spots that are underserved represent JetBlue’s
“perfect” target. However, performances in Oakland, Long Beach, and New York’s JFK have shown
that the even the largest US population markets can be considered to be underserved. These large
population centers represent opportunities for JetBlue because they can provide a steady source of
income from which JetBlue can risk expanding into locations with less projected demand. In addition,
these large population centers often give rise to in-state and nearby destinations like JBA’s current
JFK-Buffalo route. Thus location is critical to success for JetBlue.
Planes
JetBlue’s Airbus partnership has been a model for the industry. Not only were these planes less
expensive than comparable SWA Boeing 737 airplanes, they have been less expensive. While this may
be because Airbus is subsidized by various European governments, we see Airbus to be a potential
JetBlue partner in the future. However, care should be taken not to enter into binding agreements with
Airbus. For example, Southwest’s current reliance on the Boeing 737 restricts SWA from taking
advantage of Airbus airplanes. JetBlue has already taken steps towards this goal by ordering smaller
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airplanes from Brazilian manufacturer Embraer—whether these planes will serve as well will be seen.
However, the high exposure for the young Embraer may allow JetBlue some negotiating leverage.
While new types of planes are certainly possible, JBA should maintain its competitive advantages of a
more comfortable airplane with the “creature comforts” that its passengers have come to expect. In
addition, the introduction of new types of airplanes into JetBlue’s fleet can introduce costs in regard to
training its employees3.
Technology and Efficiency
Neeleman cites technology as a driver of JetBlue’s efficiency—and thus its profitability. He
claims that JetBlue is the most technologically advanced airline in the industry, pointing to the laptops
for pilots as well as a claim that 60% of JetBlue’s bookings are done online3. In short, his efficiency
model allows JetBlue to do more with less, utilizing its people and planes better.
We believe in JetBlue’s $5 discount for online purchases, which provides incentives for
discount travelers to book online. This allows JBA to handle more reservations efficiently. We also
believe in the laptop initiative, as we believe it is an enabler towards the People side of the business.
One point where JetBlue can improve is on their “turnaround times”, the time that the airplane
spends at the gate. When a plane is on the ground, it isn’t making money for JetBlue. One way we can
work on this is on the People side—to provide structural incentives for crews to get the planes back up
and running. For example, Southwest pays its pilots per trip. This means it is in the pilot’s best
financial interest to get the plane back up and running. While our turnaround times are below the
industry average—and the corresponding industry metric of seat-mile costs is between 6-8 cents10—
JetBlue can do better. The technological costs involved in reducing seat-mile costs are relatively small
when the potential benefits are considered.
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RECOMMENDATION:
We have evaluated the current situation of JetBlue has in the form of two main components,
people and structure. To grow viably and maintain the core values of the company, these two
components can be developed. While company growth is inevitable and necessary for the success of
JetBlue, this expansion must be carefully constructed. JetBlue will expand into new markets by
creating new flight routes, destinations, and hubs. While this expansion must be quick, it must also be
strategic. While successful, JetBlue does not have the resources to continually battle the major
carriers. Thus the Company can carefully expand to where larger carriers do not want to fly.
We see strategic growth through hub research and airline niche research. Hubs allow JetBlue
major destinations, and more importantly, a continuing source of revenue similar to its current position
in New York JFK. The hub research team needs to evaluate less traveled airports, or the smaller
airports in large markets in order to find an appropriate second hub location. The niche research group
must evaluate the flight routines of competing airlines, finding the best approach for expanding
destinations. At this point of JetBlue’s growth the niche team must focus on avoiding direct
competition with the large airlines and find targets of opportunities in fresh venues. These teams
should be implemented immediately in order to avoiding losing such opportunities. Examples of
candidates, as well as sample methodologies, can be seen in Appendix A. In addition, the organization
must not rest on its technological advantage, for competing airlines can quickly acquire similar
systems. Thus JetBlue needs to develop a Strategy and Technology Advancement Team, whose goal
is to use technology to improve JetBlue’s operations.
While these are the structural advancements that will lead JetBlue to further success, they
cannot be successfully implemented without the strong foundation of JetBlue employees. To
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successfully execute the people aspect of JetBlue’s future, we recommend Kotter’s “Eight Steps to
Transform Your Organization”.
1) ESTABLISH A SENSE OF URGENCY:
Young carriers are notorious for failure, especially from expanding too quickly. Employees must
realize that while JetBlue is performing well, there are many carriers in the industry that are compelled
to see them fail, and even may even help in expediting the process. All employees must realize they
need to fight, and fight hard for JetBlue to grow. Thus an internal advertising system will be
developed in order to constantly remind employees that other startup carriers may fail, but JetBlue will
not be one of those statistics. Upper management must also embrace this idea by visibly stressing this
urgency. Appendix B lists some sample internal advertising campaigns. Finally, a common enemy can
be developed to unite employees in a cause. This enemy can easily be found among the major carriers.
2) FORM A POWERFUL GUIDING COALITION:
In order to be effective, there must be a group who will lead the change. A coalition will be
established to guide the company. The most important aspect of this coalition will be its diversity.
This will not be a group of executives, instead a sampling of all JetBlue workers. This organization
prides itself on a family style work environment, and thus all groups of employees must be involved. A
sample coalition is in Appendix C. But an internal coalition is not enough. An external guiding force
must also be established. Upper management must be responsible for creating a strong backing of
local politicians, and airport coordinators and managers, who can be very effective in establishing
JetBlue in new markets. Finally, Human Resources must continue to be the backbone of JetBlue. Ann
Rhoades and her team have done an outstanding job of creating the perfect workforce. Now they must
do so for a company that will grow exponentially in the immediate future. HR will have difficulty
screening employees with the past practices for the future number of new employees. However,
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JetBlue cannot compromise this process. As a result, HR must expand, training its staff to recognize
the people that will fit the core values, and then empowering this staff to make the appropriate
decisions. Trust will be the deciding factor for this model, for the HR management must trust the
training they have provided their staff, and trust their staff to make sound employment decisions.
3) CREATE A VISION:
A company cannot reach a goal, if they do not know what they are seeking. Thus creating a vision
is necessary. While there are a great deal of supporting ideas that drive JetBlue forward, a vision must
be concise. This vision must also agree with what can be called “the customers’ vision,” the idea of a
reputable carrier, with reliable, affordable, comfortable, and friendly service. JetBlue has already
embraced the vision of their customers, and when looking towards the future, cannot ignore this force.
Thus JetBlue’s vision must be a combination of this and expansion. As a result, JetBlue’s vision is to
become a successful national carrier without compromising core values or diminishing the established
work environment.
4) COMMUNICATE VISION:
Keeping communication strong will contribute to maintaining JetBlue’s current small business
feeling. HR will once again play a significant role in this process. HR must focus on right kind of
leadership for the organization. Because JetBlue is a people oriented operation, HR must make sure to
hire and develop relationship oriented leaders. In addition, upper management must be a visible part of
all employees work experience in order to keep the small business atmosphere. Town hall meetings
with upper management and the JetBlue employees must be scheduled in order to facilitate this
interaction. To entice attendance, JetBlue can offer perks like entertainment from well-known music
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acts (who can be compensated with free travel benefits, perhaps leading to PR benefits) When
communicating, it is also recommended that the following guidelines be utilized by management 1:
-
specify nature of change
-
explain the whys, the bad news, and the criteria for success
-
how people are rewarded for success
-
LISTEN
-
Be the poster child of change for your organization
5) EMPOWER OTHERS TO ACT ON THE VISION:
In order for employees to embrace a vision they must be allowed to develop with the vision.
JetBlue needs to constantly evaluate their structure to insure that their employees have the proper tools
to complete their jobs successfully. Upper management must also encourage innovation and creativity
among all employees because one does not know who may have the next revolutionary idea. A
JetBlue Future Success Program should be instilled, allowing employees the opportunities to formally
present their ideas to management, along the lines of Rhoades’ Tiger Teams. While these steps will
empower employees, the organization must make sure that poor employees do not bring down others.
A “vision evaluation” program should be established to remove those employees who do not embrace
the vision of JetBlue.
6) PLAN AND CREATE SHORT TERM WINS:
JetBlue’s vision will not be seen overnight, and it is in fact a long term goal. In order to keep the
organization on track and more importantly motivated, small wins should be emphasized. Expansion
should be laid out in increments, such as yearly plane allotments and employee hiring. Instead of only
looking at the final outcomes, tasks such as the successful establishment of a new hub should be
1
Harvard Business Essentials, Managing Change and Transition. Harvard Business School Press, Boston. 2003.
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recognized. Reaching these expansion benchmarks will keep the employees in tune with the larger
vision.
7) CONSOLIDATE IMPROVEMENTS AND PRODUCE MORE CHANGE (AND)
8) IINSTITUTIONALIZE NEW APPROACHES:
These two steps must be evaluated after engaging the prior steps. While JetBlue has not reached
this stage yet, there are several ideas that can direct when the time comes. To consolidate
improvements, JetBlue needs to reevaluate after each benchmark. Some expansions may not be
successful, and should not be repeated. Complacency must also be avoided, no matter what
advantages (such as the paperless system) are possessed by JetBlue; competitors are always working
on counter strategies.
Conclusion
We believe that JetBlue has done well, and pundits seem to agree. The future is bright for
JetBlue, if the Company can continue to maintain its values while growing strategically. As Rhoades
claimed, what sets JetBlue apart is its values. The values of JetBlue—safety, caring, integrity, fun, and
passion—are what allows the Company to execute powerfully for customers, shareholders, and
employees alike in its self-proclaimed mission to “bring humanity back to air travel.”
What matters is that customers have a good experience with your product at every single point
of contact. At JetBlue, we're completely obsessed with flawless execution.8
-David Neeleman, JetBlue CEO
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Appendix A
JetBlue Expansion Candidates
1. Chicago – Population = 2,784,000, Density (Avg. Pop/sq mile) = 12,300
Chicago contains the largest airport in the world, O’Hare. Also, Chicago is a highly populated
area that is traveled by many different consumers. The diverse clientele and high demand for
air travel make Chicago a great prospect to expand to. However, a major concern is being
strong-armed by both American and United Airlines.
2. Houston – Population = 1,631,000, Density = 3,000
The attraction to Houston is very similar to that of Chicago, a large population and a high
demand for air travel. Houston’s metro area is still growing quickly and is now the 3rd largest in
the US. Again the main concern is the many other major airlines in the vicinity—particularly
Continental Airlines’ hub. However, developing strong ties with the airports and local
government could be very enticing to JetBlue.
3. Atlanta – Population = 2,158,000, Density = 7,500
Atlanta is a rapidly growing city where great economic growth is forecasted. Unfortunately,
Delta’s main Hub is located in Atlanta, but with Delta’s cash flow crisis JetBlue may be able to
capitalize and start effectively serving the Southeast US.
4. Milwaukee – Population = 628,000, Density = 6,500
Milwaukee is another area that should be seriously considered by JetBlue for expansion.
Milwaukee is highly populated and also is dense in terms of its population. Also there are no
Hubs located in the area. This could be a great opportunity for JetBlue to expand to the
Midwest. A main concern, however, is the demand for air travel. It will be necessary to look
at the growing trend of the city to see if this city is indeed viable for expansion.
5. Memphis – Population = 610,000, Density = 2,400
Memphis has the same attractions and concerns as Milwaukee. But again with no existing
competition in the area, this could be extremely promising for JetBlue.
Jetblue Hub Expansion Candidates
1. Denver – Population =554,000, Density = 3,300
Denver has a lot of potential when being considered for a new JetBlue Hub. The first is
minimal competition. The only other airline is United which has not shown competence in the
discount market. Also, Denver is packed with tourism and commerce, which are essential
ingredients to success in the airline industry.
2. San Diego – Population = 1,110,000, Density = 3400
San Diego should seriously be considered as JetBlue’s gateway to the west. San Diego is the
second largest city in the state of California, and also is densely populated. San Diego is also a
high traffic tourist area, and is expanding in terms of industrialization. Many companies such
as Siemens, Sony, Phillips, Qualcomm, and leading biotechnology companies all have major
headquarters in San Diego. In addition, it can be considered a “gateway” to all Mexican
destinations. Yet its location in the corner of the US may be a limiting factor.
3. Jacksonville – Population = 635,000, Density = 800
Florida offers many great reasons to be considered as a potential Hub for JetBlue. The first is
the High population, second is the abundance of tourism that is accompanied by the high
demand for air travel. JetBlue currently does not serve this market and with so many major
cities in Florida we consider it a great place to expand. Our reason for selecting Jacksonville
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over other cities is the high population, and the relative lack of competition. However, it might
be necessary to consider more traversed cities.
4. Long Beach – Population = 462,000, Density = 3,500
Being the fifth largest city in California is one of the many things that Long Beach offers in
terms of ability to become JetBlue’s next Hub. Long Beach, as stated before, is highly
populated, but a key factor is Long Beaches’ consumer market. There is a high demand for air
travel to the area, i.e. LAX, Burbank, Ontario, Orange County, but Long Beach is only 20 miles
away from LAX and is highly industrialized. Also, Long Beach offers much tourism and is
growing in both industry and tourism. Lastly, by positioning ourselves outside LA we protect
ourselves from the competition, but retain the ability to compete in one of the most traveled
places in the world.
5. Seattle – Population = 516,000, Density = 2,300
Seattle is relatively similar to Long Beach. Although there is not as much demand for air travel
as Southern California, there still is plenty of demand to justify developing a Hub. However,
there is substantial competition with the existing Hubs of United and American Airlines.
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Appendix B
Internal Advertising
Conveying a sense of Urgency:
 Employees like you help JetBlue’s dream to take
flight
 Without you there is no BLUE
 Focus on the 5 to keep JetBlue alive
o Constantly advertise the 5 core values
 Safety, Integrity, Fun, Performance, Caring
 If JetBlue succeeds so do you
 Building a bright future: Blue and You
 JetBlue: There’s no going back.
Key value is SAFETY! Highlight this with
slogans and acronyms:
Example: P.I.R.A.T.E
Personal Involvement Reduces Accidents to
Everyone
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Appendix C
Exhibit 3
Sample Coalition: All members involved in Kotter’s forming a
guiding coalition for JetBlue’s expansion
CEO: David Neeleman
VP: Thomas Kelley
COO: David Barger
CFO: John Owens
HR: Ann Rhodes and additional strategic HR employees
Director of Flight Operations Recruiting: Barbara Shea
Technology Developer: Al Spain
Local Government of expanding city: e.g. Governor Pataki
Airbus: Plane Design team
Representative sample of staff: Flight Attendants, Pilots, Maintenance,
Customer Service, Reservation Center, etc...
Type of Network of communication for Coalition:
Decentralized: All voices should be heard at an equal level to ensure
objectivity and diversity in opinion. However, management has ultimate
decision
Coalition
Coalition
Coalition
Management
Coalition
Coalition
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Works Cited
1. http://www.npr.org/features/feature.php?wfId=1511491
National Public Radio. United launches Ted, discount airline
2. http://www.npr.org/features/feature.php?wfId=1394596
National Public Radio. Airline Fare Wars
3. http://discover.npr.org/features/feature.jhtml?wfId=1145379
National Public Radio/Motley Fool. Jet Blue on Motley Fool June 2002.
Guest speaker David Neeleman, JetBlue CEO
4. http://discover.npr.org/features/feature.jhtml?wfId=1148670
National Public Radio. Fare Wars
5. http://www.npr.org/programs/fool/features/2003/apr/airlines.html
National Public Radio. Frontier Airlines CEO on Motley Fool Oct 2002
6. http://discover.npr.org/features/feature.jhtml?wfId=1250602
National Public Radio. SWA CEO Jim Parker on Motley Fool May 2003
7. http://archive.salon.com/tech/col/smith/2002/12/06/askthepilot21/index1.html
Salon.com “Ask the Pilot” column [premium content] December 2002
8. http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/61/btm.html
David Neeleman and Getting things Right
9. http://archive.salon.com/tech/col/smith/2003/08/15/askthepilot52/
Salon.com “Ask the Pilot” column [premium content] 15 August 2003
10. http://www.ajc.com/business/content/business/delta/1103/09song.html
Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Delta’s Song all tuned up for battle. 9 November 2003
11. http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0071396837/002-83701617100056?%5Fencoding=UTF8&resultsPage=2&keywords=jetblue&v=search-inside
Amazon.com. Excerpts from The Southwest Airlines Way by Judy Gittell.
12. Informal after-flight interview with the Southwest Airlines flight captain of Flight 834 on Wed 26 Nov
2003. He was laid off as a pilot by American Airlines.
13. Informal in-flight interview SWA passenger Billy on Flight 798 on 30 Nov 2003.
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