JetBlue Airlines 2010 Annual Report Download - page 11

Our Value Proposition
Our mission is to bring humanity back to air travel. As we entered our second decade of operations in
2010, we continued to work toward our goal to become “the Americas’ Favorite Airline” — for our employees
(whom we refer to as crewmembers), customers, and shareholders. We believe our achieving this goal is
dependent upon continuing to provide superior customer service in delivering the JetBlue Experience while
maintaining financial strength. We do this by offering what we believe to be the best domestic coach product
and providing our customers more value for their purchases, while maintaining a low cost structure relative to
our superior product level. During 2010, we continued to make investments to better position us for our future
growth and success, including the implementation of a comprehensive customer service system, which has
enabled us to add functionalities and enhance the JetBlue experience, as well as modifying our fleet schedule,
and expanding our route network. The elements of our value proposition include:
High Quality Service and Product. Onboard JetBlue, customers enjoy a distinctive flying experience,
which we refer to as the “JetBlue Experience.” This includes friendly, award-winning, customer service-
oriented employees, new aircraft, roomy leather seats with the most legroom in coach, 36 channels of free
DirecTV», 100 channels of free XM satellite radio and premium movie channel offerings from JetBlue
Features», our source of first run films from multiple major movie studios, and other entertainment features
available for purchase. Our onboard offerings include free and unlimited brand name snacks and beverages,
premium beverages and specially-designed products for our overnight flights. Our customers have told us the
JetBlue Experience is an important reason why they choose us over other airlines.
We strive to communicate openly and honestly with customers about delays and service disruptions. We
introduced the JetBlue Airways Customer Bill of Rights in 2007 which provides for compensation to
customers who experience avoidable inconveniences (as well as some unavoidable circumstances) and
commits us to perform at high service standards and holds us accountable if we do not. We are the first and
currently the only U.S. major airline to provide such a fundamental benefit to our customers. In 2010, we
completed 98.1% of our scheduled flights. Unlike most other airlines, we have a policy of not overbooking
our flights.
All of our aircraft are equipped with leather seats in a comfortable single class layout. Our Airbus A320
aircraft, with 150 seats, has a wider cabin than both the Boeing 737 and 757, two types of aircraft operated by
many of our competitors. Our Airbus A320 cabin has at least 34 inches of seat pitch at every seat and as
much as 38 inches of seat pitch in our Even More Legroom rows, providing the most legroom in coach of all
U.S. airlines. Our EMBRAER 190 aircraft each have 100 seats that are wider than industry average for this
type of aircraft and are arranged in a two-by-two seating configuration with either 32 or 33 inches between
rows of seats. We continually strive to enhance and refine our product based on customer and crewmember
feedback.
Focus on Operating Costs. Historically, our cost structure has allowed us to offer fares lower than
many of our competitors. We continue to focus on maintaining low operating costs relative to the superior
product offerings of the JetBlue Experience. For the year ended December 31, 2010, our cost per available
seat mile, excluding fuel, of 6.71 cents is among the lowest reported by all other major U.S. airlines. Some of
the factors that contribute to our competitive unit costs are:
•High aircraft utilization. By scheduling and operating our aircraft efficiently, we are able to spread
our fixed costs over a greater number of flights and available seat miles. For the year ended
December 31, 2010, our aircraft operated an average of 11.6 hours per day, which we believe is the
highest among all major U.S. airlines. Our airport operations allow us to schedule our aircraft with
minimum ground time.
•Low distribution costs. Historically, our distribution costs have been low for several reasons. We issue
only electronic tickets, saving paper, postage, employee time and back-office processing expense.
Additionally, a majority of our sales are booked through our website, http://www.jetblue.com, which is
our least expensive form of distribution.
•Productive workforce. Our employee efficiency results from flexible and productive work rules,
effective use of part-time employees and the use of technology to automate tasks. For example, most of
2