JetBlue Airlines 2007 Annual Report Download - page 20

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possible. Our hiring process is rigorous and includes behavioral interviews and peer assessments. We
assist our employees by offering them flexible work hours, initial paid training, a uniform allowance
and benefits. We also provide extensive training for our pilots, flight attendants, technicians, airport
agents, dispatchers and reservation agents which emphasizes the importance of safety. We provide
leadership training for all supervisors and managers, with the active participation of our senior
management, to help ensure that we have the right leaders in place across our organization to
maintain our unique company culture and commitment to our customers. Effective and frequent
communication throughout the organization is fostered through periodic employee satisfaction surveys,
a quarterly crewmember magazine, active leadership participation in new hire orientations and
monthly open meetings, called ‘‘pocket sessions’’, which are videotaped and posted on our intranet.
An important part of our business plan is to reward our employees by providing them with the
ability to align their personal successes with those of JetBlue. Our compensation packages include
competitive salaries, wages and benefits, and an employee stock purchase plan. We review our
compensation packages on a regular basis to ensure that they are competitive, which allows us to hire
and retain the best people possible.
We enter into individual employment agreements with each of our FAA-licensed employees,
which consist of pilots, dispatchers and technicians. Each employment agreement is for a term of five
years and automatically renews for an additional five-year term unless either the employee or we elect
not to renew it by giving notice before the end of the relevant term. Pursuant to these agreements,
these employees can only be terminated for cause. In the event of a downturn in our business that
would require a reduction in work hours, we are obligated to pay these employees a guaranteed level
of income and to continue their benefits. In addition, in the event we are sold to or consolidate with
another company, we must request that the successor company place these employees on a
preferential hiring list. If such employees are not hired by the successor company, in some cases they
will be entitled to a severance payment of up to one year’s salary.
None of our employees are currently unionized. We believe that a direct relationship with JetBlue
leadership, and not third-party representation, is in the best interests of our employees.
Our full-time equivalent employees at December 31, 2007 consisted of 1,794 pilots, 1,890 flight
attendants, 2,874 airport operations personnel, 431 technicians, whom others refer to as mechanics,
844 reservation agents, and 2,386 management and other personnel. At December 31, 2007, we
employed 8,785 full-time and 2,847 part-time employees.
Maintenance
We have an FAA-approved maintenance program, which is administered by our technical
operations department. Consistent with our core value of safety, we use qualified maintenance
personnel, ensure they have comprehensive training, and maintain our aircraft and associated
maintenance records in accordance with FAA regulations.
The work performed on our fleet can be divided into four general categories of maintenance:
aircraft line, aircraft heavy, component and power plant. The bulk of line maintenance requirements
are handled by JetBlue technicians and inspectors and consist of daily checks, overnight and weekly
checks, A checks, diagnostics and routine repairs. All other maintenance activity is sub-contracted to
business partner maintenance, repair and overhaul organizations.
Aircraft heavy maintenance checks consist of a series of more complex tasks that take from one
to four weeks to accomplish. The typical frequency for these events is once every 15 months. We
contract with ACTS Aero Technical Support & Services, Inc. in Canada and TACA Aeroman in
El Salvador to perform this work with oversight from JetBlue personnel.
Component and power plant maintenance, repairs and overhauls on equipment such as engines,
auxiliary, power units, landing gears, pumps and avionic computers are performed by a number of
different FAA-approved repair stations. For example, maintenance of our V2500 series engines on our
Airbus A320 aircraft is performed under a fifteen-year service agreement with MTU Maintenance
Hannover GmbH in Germany. Most of our maintenance service agreements are based on a fixed cost
per flying hour.
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