<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by JerryFF:
In my opinion it is not just the age of the aircraft and the cost of maintenance and the route structure, but the general attitude and "culture" of management and the employees.
Look at Southwest - even now, when they have added lots of connecting flight itineraries and long hauls to their usual short hop point-to-point service, they are still making money. I know some don't like the "cattle car" boarding or the inability to upgrade, but everything else is handled so well and people treated so well that they are now attracting some of the most hardened road warriors.
This is a service industry, and the companies that provide the best service and make people feel welcome will succeed. Those that don't, won't.
Just my opinion.
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JerryFF,
I have to humbly disagree on this one. While labor relations is indeed important, the bottom line is what counts most.
For the moment, JBLU is a success because of its artifically low cost structure. B6's A320 leases were designed to have low payments in the beginning, but will balloon (by at least 200-300% or so) in the not-too-distant future. Also, B6 has not yet had to perform heavy maintenance on its fleet; this will also prove to be a major expense. In addition, JetBlue also offers a wage structure which IMHO will prove to be unsustainable as the company continues to record profits and employees either receive a larger share of the pie outright, or join a union to do so.
While it may be all smiles on the face of B6, the company has MANY formidable challenges ahead. And quite honestly, I'm siding with Gordon Bethune's commentary on JBLU: "As P.T. Barnum said, there's a sucker born every minute..."
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