TBR BOARD OF DIRECTORS
DAVID NEELEMAN
Chairman
JetBlue Airways
JetBlue Airways began operations in February, 2000 from its
base at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport
and now, more than two years later, serves 18 cities across
the U.S with a fleet of 24 brand new Airbus A320 aircraft.
As CEO of JetBlue Airways, David Neeleman has launched his
third successful aviation business and is realizing his desire
to bring humanity back to air travel, by offering passengers
low fares, friendly service and a high quality product.
David’s career in the airline industry began in 1984
when he co-founded a low-fare carrier called Morris Air with
June Morris, the owner of Salt Lake City-based travel agency
Morris Travel. As President of Morris Air, David implemented
the industry’s first electronic ticketing system and
pioneered a home reservationist system that is now the foundation
of JetBlue’s unique call center: all calls to JetBlue’s
reservation number are handled by reservationists working
out of their homes.
Following the sale of Morris Air and a short period with
Southwest Airlines, David took the electronic ticketing system
that he had initiated at Morris Air and developed it into
Open Skies, the world’s simplest airline reservation
system. David sold Open Skies to Hewlett Packard in 1999.
Also during this period, David acted as a consultant to WestJet
Airlines, the successful Canadian low-fare start-up airline.
In 1999, after the conclusion of his five-year non-compete
agreement with Southwest Airlines, David decided the time
was right to bring his successful airline formula – innovative,
high quality service plus low fares equals a strong and loyal
market – to one of the country’s largest aviation
markets, New York City. He assembled a hand-picked management
team of airline industry veterans and secured $130 million
in capital funding from investors such as Weston Presidio
Capital, George Soros and Chase Capital.
JetBlue Airways was named in July 1999, seven months prior
to its inaugural flight. In 2001, JetBlue was voted the #2
domestic airline in the U.S., for comfort and service by the
Zagat’s Airline Survey and named one of the decade’s
top five success stories by Fast Company magazine.
This year, David was named one of the Top Ten Entrepreneurs
of 2000 by Business Week magazine, a Travel Industry Innovator
by Time magazine, and one of the Most Influential Business
Travel Executives by Business Travel News.
David lives with his wife Vicki and their nine children in
New Canaan, Connecticut.
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