JetBlue Airlines 2010 Annual Report Download - page 3

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Deliver and Refresh the JetBlue Experience: Grow JetBlue’s reputation for service and continually refresh
the products and experiences for our customers which will attract new customers and earn their loyalty.
Grow our Network and Offerings: Expand our menu of destinations to places high value customers want to
go, and be their one-stop shop for hotels, car rentals, cruises and other travel-related services.
Our year began with the transition to Sabre, a new customer service and reservations system. Reservation
system changes in our industry have been described as changing the engine of a race car while in the fourth
turn. Most airlines accept the fact that there will be significant operational disruption, marked by customer
disservice and frustration among crewmembers.
In keeping with our contrarian nature, JetBlue chose to make investments up front to ensure the transition
would be as seamless as possible for customers and crewmembers. We put extensive plans in place to
support the cutover, including a back-up call center, capped flight loads and reduced flight schedule over
the cutover period. As a result of these and other investments, we successfully transitioned to the new
system with minimal disruption.
We believe Sabre provides the technology platform needed to support our future growth, and our
investment started paying dividends almost immediately. We have seen more transactions through the
global distribution channels resulting in higher yielding traffic. Sabre has also given us the opportunity to
capitalize on other revenue enhancing opportunities, such as variable pricing for our Even More Legroom
product, capability to partner with international carriers, additional web site functionality and a more
dynamic revenue management system.
Even before the dust settled on the Sabre transition, we celebrated our sixth consecutive J.D. Power and
Associates award. To remain focused on our achievement, we engaged more than 1,000 crewmembers in
an initiative called Culture is Service. We asked frontline crewmembers what we should be doing
differently to maintain our leadership position in customer service, and how we can better earn customer
loyalty. Feedback from our service experts on the frontline was stunning in both its impact and simplicity,
including, for example, offering early boarding to our Even More Legroom customers. This in turn, helps
us attract more high-value customers.
We anticipate that Culture is Service will continue into our second decade as a way for our business to
identify and move quickly on opportunities to better serve our customers so we continue to earn their
business. One example of moving quickly in response to market demands was our introduction of shelf-
stable food for purchase onboard, in a program we call “Eat Up.” We inaugurated buy onboard in a handful
of markets in June and customers literally ate it up. By October, we had expanded the program to all flights
longer than 2 hours 45 minutes, and customer response has been overwhelmingly positive.
In 2010, we also laid the groundwork for a connectivity solution at altitude, partnering with ViaSat, a
leader in satellite technologies, and our wholly owned subsidiary LiveTV. We believe the industry’s
current connectivity solutions are unable to scale with the growing dependence on and demand for
bandwidth. Through our partnership, a Ka-band satellite will be launched to provide connectivity at today’s
speed with potential to scale with consumer behavior. LiveTV is positioned to be the official provider of
installation and maintenance services for JetBlue and other airline customers.
Enhancing our product in 2010 was a major component of our focus on brand extension. We launched a
new advertising campaign, You Above All, featuring the core differentiating elements of the JetBlue
Experience: free first checked bag, unlimited name-brand snacks, nonstop service, 36 channels of free
DirecTV programming, a selection of first-run movies and exceptional customer service.
Customers want a desirable network as well, so we focused our investments in 2010 on building up Boston,
the Caribbean, and maintaining our leadership position in New York.
Our Caribbean destinations generally require minimal up-front capital and, despite limited daily operations,
are relatively low cost and consistent with our free cash flow goals. In addition, these markets tend to