Once High-Flying, JetBlue Returns to Earth

Ten years ago this week, JetBlue Airways staged a festive initial public offering at the Nasdaq marketplace in New York’s Times Square. Although September 11 had plunged the airline industry into record losses, the then-two-year-old carrier was the envy of its peers. Out of the gate, it was funded by venture backers and strategically hubbed at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport. It boasted brand-new, leather-seat-equipped Airbus A320s and fanatically loyal customers drawn to its free in-flight TV and help-yourself snacks. Its low costs and tight-knit company culture—founder and Chief Executive Officer David Neeleman could often be seen helping flight crews vacuum planes between runs—seemed set to reinvent the industry. JetBlue stock soon tripled as larger rivals Delta Air Lines and United Airlines rushed (unsuccessfully) to launch their own cheery, low-cost spinoffs.

With founder Neeleman long gone and shares 80 percent off their high, JetBlue now finds itself bereft of much luster. A JetBlue pilot’s midair meltdown on March 27 was the latest in a string of very public mishaps, starting with passengers getting stranded on a plane for up to 11 hours during a February 2007 ice storm and a flight attendant bolting the plane’s exit chute after cursing passengers in August 2010. JetBlue now ranks last among 15 airlines in on-time performance and ninth in customer complaints to the Department of Transportation—three times Southwest Airlines’ complaint ratio. The tables have turned. A vastly consolidated airline industry once again favors major carriers with expansive route maps and a preponderance of business travelers—things JetBlue lacks.