I had the chance to meet David Neeleman today, architect of JetBlue, and hear him on several topics. This is a level-headed man who respects what the industry can do for people. He says proudly that he's never laid off a soul at JetBlue. 80 percent of the employees are equity invested in the company and it sure seems to show when I fly the airline. Unions? Neeleman would take it as a personal failure if his employees felt the need to resort to an outside agent to look after their rights.
Depite overall favorable operating stats, JetBlue ran a surprise fourth quarter 2005 loss, which Neeleman says is entirely due to fuel costs. He's raised ticket prices an average of $5 to $10 and he says people in airports sometimes give him five bucks in cash saying it's their contribution to help make sure JetBlue survives. He says ticket prices need to compress from the extremes - New York to Florida routes on Jet Blue range from $299 ("a rip off") to $67. The right price is in the middle someplace.
What to do about fuel costs? Ethanol from coal. Neeleman says that present technology could produce ethanol from coal priced at $25/barrel. He says if we switched our fuel consumption from oil to ethanol from coal he would go to sleep at nights with a lump of coal in his hand and sleep soundly in the knowledge that the US has an 800-year supply of coal.
Comments