JetBlue Airlines 2009 Annual Report Download - page 11

Our Value Proposition
Our mission is to bring humanity back to air travel. As we begin our second decade of operations in
2010, our goal is to become “Americas’ Favorite Airline” — for our employees (whom we refer to as
crewmembers), customers, and shareholders. Achieving this goal is dependent upon continuing to provide
superior customer service and 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 purchase. 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,” that includes friendly, award-winning, customer service-
oriented employees, new aircraft, roomy leather seats with lots of legroom, 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 (and 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 major airline to provide such a fundamental benefit for our customers. In 2009, we completed 98.7% 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 strive to continually enhance and refine our product based on customer and
crewmember feedback.
Low Operating Costs. Our cost structure has allowed us to offer fares lower than many of our
competitors. For the year ended December 31, 2009, our cost per available seat mile, excluding fuel, of
6.33 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, 2009, our aircraft operated an average of 11.5 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. Our distribution costs are low for several reasons. Although most airlines use
electronic tickets in some capacity, electronic tickets are our only form of tickets, saving paper,
postage, employee time and back-office processing expense. Additionally, a majority of our sales are
booked through our website, 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 our reservation agents work from their homes, providing better scheduling flexibility and allowing
employees to customize their schedules. We are continually looking for ways to make our workforce
more efficient through the use of technology without compromising our commitment to customer
service.
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