Sorry, I posted this in the wrong thread within this forum. Should have posted this here:

A Continental sympathizer here, but...

I had a chance to hear from JetBlue management recently, and hear what's going on operationally.

Folks, they really are still trying to get their act together on the fundamentals.

They're getting a new plane every week, and can't manage their introduction to the fleet or optimal scheduling. Worse yet, they're going to logistically uproot their staff.

In today's earnings announcement, Neeleman said they are moving Revenue Management and Scheduling from satellite locations to headquarters:

"Although the discount carrier's average fare rose to $110 in 2005, Mr. Neeleman said JetBlue needs to get $115 to $120 a ticket to be profitable at these fuel prices. To better manage its revenue, the carrier is moving its revenue-management team to headquarters from their offices in Salt Lake City. And the schedule-planning department will decamp from offices in Darien, Conn., to Forest Hills. "We need to do a better job," he said."

These are steps they need to take to grow, but my sense is the growth is coming too fast with the EMBs, and they just can't handle it, so expect more reliability problems for at least the next 3-6 months until the team is settled and cohesive.

Too bad, since they really do have something different going that people like. But when you can't run on time consistently, many people aren't going to wait around no matter how nice. Let's hope fuel stays low enough that the missteps don't kill them before they get a chance to catch up.