Jetblue Airways

INTRODUCTION

JetBlue Airways entered the market in 2000 from a position of financial strength, leadership capability and several rare advantage points uncommon to others in the industry: 1) David Neeleman, the founder, had several years of industry experience as a result of having successfully launched and sold an airline (Morris Air), bringing both explicit and tacit knowledge into the his new venture; 2) Neeleman was afforded the opportunity to work directly with his idol, Herb Kelleher, at Southwest Airlines (the king of the low-cost leaders) after Southwest purchased Morris Air from Neeleman; and 3) Substantial financial support from venture capitalists who had funded Neeleman’s previous ventures and were more than willing to support and capitalize on his idea for a new low-cost passenger airline.

With a clear mission and vision, he implemented a low-cost, differentiation business-level strategy, that set out to position JetBlue as the leading low-cost passenger airline in the industry, differentiating on high-quality customer service, providing customers with a geographically diversified flight schedule of both short and long hauls, along with efficient and reliable service.

JetBlue’s mission is “to bring humanity back to air travel”. Its low-cost strategy is second-to-none,