from the website FWIW
JetBlue Airways took to the air on February 11, 2000 with the inauguration of service between New York City’s John F. Kennedy International Airport and Fort Lauderdale, FL. The airline now serves 17 cities around the country with a fleet of 17 brand new, environmentally friendly, Airbus A320 aircraft outfitted with roomy all-leather seats, each equipped with LiveTV offering 24 channels of DIRECTV programming.

JetBlue’s origins date back to 1993, when CEO David Neeleman sold his first airline, Salt-Lake City based Morris Air, to Southwest Airlines. It was as a founder and President of Morris Air that Neeleman proved that innovative, high-quality airline service coupled with low fares will attract a strong and loyal market.

Following the sale of Morris Air, Neeleman went on to help launch WestJet, a successful Canadian low-fare carrier, and to develop the e-ticketing system he had implemented at Morris Air into Open Skies, the world’s simplest airline reservation system. Neeleman sold Open Skies to Hewlett Packard in 1999.

With three successful aviation businesses under his belt, Neeleman decided the time was right to bring his airline formula to the world’s largest aviation market, New York City.

In July 1999, having secured a hand-picked management team and $130 million in capital funding from investors such as Weston Presidio Capital, George Soros and Chase Capital, Neeleman shook up the aviation industry with the announcement of his plan to launch a new airline that would bring “humanity back to air travel.”