JetBlue Airlines 2009 Annual Report Download - page 16

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fares for air travel on JetBlue and 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
In November 2009, we launched an improved version of JetBlue’s customer loyalty program, TrueBlue.
TrueBlue is an online program designed to reward and recognize our most loyal customers. The program
offers incentives to increase members’ travel on JetBlue. TrueBlue members earn points for each one-way trip
flown based on the value paid for the trip. Members accumulate points in their account which expire after
12 months but can be reset with new earnings activity. An award flight redemption can begin once a member
attains as few as 5,000 points. There are no seat restrictions in the improved TrueBlue program and any
JetBlue destination can be booked if the member has enough points to exchange for the value of an open seat.
However, the number of points needed to acquire travel is variable based on market conditions.
The number of travel awards used on JetBlue during 2009 was approximately 302,000, representing 3.7%
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. However, we expect redemptions to grow as a result of the program enhancements
rolled out in 2009.
Upon launch of the improved version of TrueBlue, members with points very near award levels were able
to convert them into an award. Points earned under the improved version can also be converted into the old
version’s point structure in order to get to an award level.
We have an agreement with American Express under which it issues co-branded credit cards allowing
cardmembers to earn TrueBlue points. Every time JetBlue Card or a JetBlue Business Card holders from
American Express earn the equivalent of one TrueBlue point or purchase and complete travel on JetBlue
before their points expire, all of 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 TrueBlue points. We intend to pursue other loyalty 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 qualified 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 El Salvador, Pemco in Tampa, Florida 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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