JetBlue Airlines 2008 Annual Report Download - page 16

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We sell vacation packages through JetBlue Getaways, a one-stop, value-priced vacation website designed
to meet customers demand for self-directed packaged travel planning. Getaways packages offer competitive
fares for air travel on JetBlue, a selection of JetBlue-recommended hotels and resorts, car rentals and
attractions. We also offer a la carte hotel and car rental reservations through our website.
Customer Loyalty Program
JetBlue’s customer loyalty program, TrueBlue Flight Gratitude, or TrueBlue, is an online program
designed to reward and recognize our most loyal customers. The program offers incentives to increase travel
on JetBlue and provides our customers with additional services. TrueBlue members earn points for each
one-way trip flown based on the length of the trip. Points are accumulated in an account for each member and
expire after 12 months. A free round trip award to any JetBlue destination is earned after attaining 100 points
within a consecutive 12 month period. Awards are automatically generated and are valid for one year. We now
have nearly seven million TrueBlue members, and we expect TrueBlue membership will continue to grow.
The number of estimated travel awards outstanding at December 31, 2008 was approximately 196,000
awards and includes an estimate for partially earned awards. The number of travel awards used on JetBlue
during 2008 was approximately 297,000, which represented 4% of our total revenue passenger miles. Due to
the structure of the program and low level of redemptions as a percentage of total travel, the displacement of
revenue passengers by passengers using TrueBlue awards has been minimal to date.
We have an agreement with American Express, under which it issues co-branded credit cards allowing
cardmembers to earn points in TrueBlue. Through American Express, we also offer the JetBlue Business Card,
which provides small business owners with a 5% discount on JetBlue travel and automatic enrollment in the
American Express OPEN Savings»program. In addition, small business owners with any American Express
OPEN small business card receive a 3% discount on JetBlue travel. Every time cardmembers holding either a
JetBlue Card or a JetBlue Business Card from American Express earn the equivalent of one TrueBlue point or
purchase travel on JetBlue before their points expire, all the points in their TrueBlue account are extended for
another 12 months. We also have an agreement with American Express allowing its cardholders to convert
their Membership Reward points into JetBlue TrueBlue points. We intend to pursue other marketing
partnerships in the future.
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,
and often exceeding, FAA regulations.
The work performed on our fleet is 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 send our aircraft to
Aveos facilities in Canada and El Salvador as well as to Empire Aero Center in Rome, New York and
Embraer Aircraft Maintenance Services in Nashville, Tennessee. In all cases this work is performed with
oversight by 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 15 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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