Word: southwesterly
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...airlines was exploding last year, JetBlue came into being with a new attitude, new planes and a new concept of service. What perfect takeoff timing for a carrier that is trying to bring pleasure and even style back to flying. JetBlue is low-price and all-coach, like Southwest Airlines, yet hip and sassy, like Virgin Atlantic. In the air, JetBlue offers the plush seats and satellite TV; on the ground, it offers hyperefficiency and--are you ready?--candor about delays. You could call it the antiairline...
Neeleman has raided rivals for employee-focused top executives, including COO Dave Barger, a key part of the team that turned around Continental Airlines. Neeleman lured chief financial officer John Owen from Southwest, "because there is no one else in the world who is better at buying airplanes and running a successful financial operation." For his people person, Neeleman chose the only executive who ever fired him. That was Ann Rhoades, who helped develop the airline industry's happiest employee group at Southwest. But in 1994 she pink-slipped Neeleman after Southwest bought Morris Air, another low-price airline...
Neeleman, who wants to take JetBlue public within two years, is just as obsessed with keeping costs down. Like Southwest, JetBlue flies only one type of aircraft, which keeps a lid on training and maintenance expenses. With flight attendants and even executives like Barger chipping in to help clean the jets even before they have landed, turnaround times average just 35 minutes, as fast as industry leader Southwest...
Herb Kelleher, founder of Southwest Airlines, considered Neeleman such a threat that after buying him out, he forced his young rival to sign a five-year noncompete agreement in 1994. "David's a genius," Kelleher says of Neeleman. "There's no question about it." The hiatus gave Neeleman a lot of time to plan every last detail of his dream airline...
...businesses. Populism is good for business, though a little odd for the billionaire son of a Greek Cypriot shipping magnate who spends his weekends in Monaco. Stelios started in his dad's business of oil tankers but became famous with easyJet, a no-frills airline modeled on U.S. carrier Southwest Airlines. EasyJet now flies to 18 cities in Europe; its planes are more than 80% full, compared with the European average load...