Smart Skies Ahead

There’s an old adage that goes something like, “The best things in life are free, but sooner or later the government will find a way to tax them.” We know that well in the airline business. We shell out a lot in taxes and fees to the government -- to cover everything from fuel to airport usage to security services. We pay for what we use, and we believe many of these fees are necessary for a reliable operation and a strong national aviation infrastructure. But you might be surprised to know that there’s one important resource that not every plane in the sky pays its fair share for -- air traffic control (ATC) services. Our current ATC system is funded by an outdated and unfair funding formula from the 1970s that penalizes commercial airlines and rewards private aircraft with a pass on paying their fair share. Even though commercial airlines like JetBlue only use less than 70% of our national’s ATC system, we still pay more than 90% of the fees that fund the system.

Congress will vote on a new air traffic control system this year – a system that will help improve airline on-time performance, reduce delays, ensure everyone pays his or her fair share, and help the environment. Our feeling, and the opinion of the Air Transport Association, an industry association we’re a member of, is the general idea of ‘you use it, you pay for it.’ The bill that has been put before Congress will equalize the playing field so that it won’t matter if you’re flying an Airbus with 150 people or a private jet with five people -- each jet plane that files a flight plan takes up the same amount of valuable ATC resources and will be charged the same $25 per-departure fee to help finance upgrades to our busy ATC system. (It’s important to note that this bill won’t significantly impact general aviation since 90% of those flights operate under flight rules that don’t require traditional air traffic control clearance).

There are more flights in the skies than ever before and more congestion, too -- fueled largely by a surge in private jet operations -- and our ATC system has never been stretched more thinly. Anyone who’s ever sat through a delay because of all the congestion in our airways knows that all too well. I hope you’ll make your voice heard and join me in supporting SmartSkies, the Air Transport Association initiative that will fund the FAA more fairly, and reduce congestion. Learn more at www.smartskies.org.

-David

The Natural Order of Things

Hi everyone. On Wednesday, I stepped down from running the airline every day as CEO to focus on more long-term strategic initiatives for JetBlue as Chairman of the Board. Dave Barger, who has been President of JetBlue since the very beginning, will take over as CEO. Dave is an operational genius, and we have been partners for more than 9 years. Knowing that Dave will be at the helm is a great comfort to me, because I know JetBlue’s crewmembers love and respect him, and he will make the right decisions for the airline we created.

This wasn’t easy for me – I live and breathe JetBlue every day, but by doing so, I cannot focus on the big picture items for JetBlue. I have a great group of professionals who know how to run the day-to-day operations of the airline and I am enthusiastic about them taking the lead.

When I founded JetBlue in 1998, I set out to build a different kind of airline. That sentence has kind of turned into a marketing slogan for us over the years, but to me, it’s the cornerstone of every decision I’ve made over the years and will continue to make in my new role. A low-fare airline focused on true customer service based in New York? People said it couldn’t be done. But we’ve done that. Now that JetBlue is a really big airline – with 52 destinations and more than 575 daily flights, it’s more important than ever for me to step back and think in terms of 3 years out – not 3 days or 3 months. Thinking of the next big thing for JetBlue is what I’m really good at and JetBlue needs me to draw on that strength.

One of the biggest challenges to airlines these days is the volatile cost of jet fuel. I wrote about this last November right here on the Flight Log, and you may have seen recent media reports about Congressional efforts to fund coal-to-liquid production plants. This idea is gaining speed, and I want to be more involved in developing this idea and figuring out how to make this technology greener.

Another big project that I’m looking forward to spending more time on is developing relationships with international airlines. We’ve built JFK Airport in New York into a powerhouse, with a great network of destinations. If you’re in Europe and coming to the U.S., you’re probably going to arrive at JFK first. We want to make it easy and affordable for those customers to get to their desired destination on our planes. There are more than 70 international airlines that serve JFK and the majority of them do not have a partner airline – JetBlue is the perfect choice for them.

I look forward to meeting more JetBlue customers on our flights and in our airports, and working on projects that will help shape JetBlue for the future. It’s been an incredible experience for me to serve as JetBlue’s first CEO, building a company that has made a big difference in so many people’s lives.

-David

Bay Area Now Open for Business!

I was in San Francisco last week to open our latest destination – San Francisco International! We now have more flights than anyone else between New York City and the Bay Area. We fly to Oakland and San Jose already. Here are some pictures of the great time we had in SFO.

Here’s the view from our gorgeous new gate at San Francisco International Airport (left). Mayor Gavin Newsome was there to welcome the first plane from New York. We gave it the traditional water cannon salute!

On Saturday, we hosted a party in Union Square and invited San Franciscans to come dressed as their favorite New York icon, and we would enter them in a drawing to win free roundtrip travel on JetBlue. We also asked our new neighbors to bring at least two canned goods to benefit the San Francisco and Alameda County Community Food Banks. It was a huge success – we have hundreds of people turn out and support this worthy effort. Here are some of my favorite (and most creative!) contestants:

New York Icon: The Subway	New York Icon: Central Park
New York Icon: The End of WWII – A Kiss in Times Square

-David