April 30 JetBlue

[skirt]

Okay all you Jetblue experts...

I'm headed in for the "big day" on April 30....been doin' lots
of research. I've read through most of the last few months
posts, and checked out about everything a person can on
the web. I am quite impressed...sounds like a way cool place
to fly.

I have a few questions that so far I have not found an answer:

1. Who are all the folks who attend this shindig on the 30th
(besides the interviewers and interviewees).
2. I know where some of the main management came from
(SWA, American and of course the boss creating Morris Air
and Westjet). How about the chief pilot, director of safety,
marketing/strategic planning guy/gal, and the others in the
upper management (say the top 10 guys/gals).
3. What is the 5yr, 10yr, 20yr, realistic goals and dream goals
of the company
4.What are the next 10-15 cities planned
5. I hear rumors of the infamous "west coast" domicle once
the industry does it's shakedown, but I also hear rumbles that
it is likely NOT going to be Long Beach. Seems odd, but maybe
that has something to do with item 4 above.
6. When do the first Airbuses come off warranty, and how much
of a $$$ hit is that really, maintenance cost-wise. Who will do
the maintenance then?
7. Is the seat mile cost really 6.4 cents now (with SWA 7.4cents)?
8. Right now are you still on pace for 52 busses until the end of
2003 and 85 by the end of 2004. That is a big increase in planes,
and at 12.9 hours a day, that is alot of new routes.
9. What is the measure of "major airline" that you will hit next
year (is it ASM's, #planes, #employees?)
10. Had you been in the "major" list in 2002 what would the
ranking have been for customer satisfaction, ontime and revenue?

Sorry to ask so many questions, but I am really, really looking
hard into this. If any of these questions can be answered somewhere
on the web that I have not found, feel free to direct me, so you don't
spend forever typing. I've read 100's of articles, 10K, Air Inc., flightinfo,
willflyforfood, and various other such links.

Digging hard, and looking forward to April 30.

Skirt

 

[RUhiring?]

Did JetBlue get rid of the "update" feature of their online application? I can't seem to access it. I certainly don't want to redo the entire application and start over at the bottom of the stack.

 

[Counselair]

Congrats and good luck Skirt! I didn't see it listed, but did you try this link?


http://www.aviationinterviews.com/pilotgougedisplay.php3?company=jet_blue

It doesn't answer your specific questions but has lots of good gouge.


Counselair

 

[Blue Dude]

I can answer some of those.

1. Al Spain and Dave Barger will almost certainly be there to meet you and answer questions. David Neeleman may also make an appearance. Probably at least one chief pilot or asst chief pilot there as well. Interviews are a big deal.

2. All over. I don't know for most of them, so chances are you won't need to know either. If you want to know, ask them outright on 4/30 when you see them.

3. Nothing published.

4. Complete secret. Nobody knows. David and Dave may not know beyond the next 2 or 3 cities. If they did know they wouldn't tell anyone since that would just invite preemptive action from other airlines.

5. They look at this month to month. Opening a base is very expensive, and they don't want to do it without a good reason. LGB isn't a good idea since it'll never grow much more than its present size. It'll be something else (OAK? LAS?).

6. I think the warranties are on a 5 year cycle, but I don't really know. That means that in late 2004 the first Airbii will start to come off warranty. The agreement with Airbus isn't public. JetBlue already does its own maintenance, with its own people. C checks are outsourced and paid for as they occur, in cash. D checks start in 2004 I think, which will also be cash payments.

7. Yep.

8. 52 by the end of this year. 87 by the end of 2007, not 2004. Read the 10-K, it's all in there.

9. The only definition of "major airline" I'm aware of is revenue. We ought to be very close to taking in $1B in revenue in 2003. Doing that in 2004 is all but guaranteed unless something drastic happens.

10. Do you mean complaints, and DOT ontime? Don't know for sure but they would be very good. I know JB's figures, but I couldn't find the industry list. What is "revenue" ranking?

Hope this helps, good luck.

 

[skirt]

Blue Dude and Counselair,

Thanks for the replies. Yes, I did also check out aviationinterviews.com,
I forgot to add that to my post (it was late when I signed up). Good
stuff.

Blue Dude thanks for the lengthy reply. I had not gotten all the way through the 10K talking about the a/c acquisitons. Thanks for correcting me. I know you guys get tired of folks who don't do research, so I am trying to get as much as I can together on my own.

Special thanks for the info on LGB. It makes alot of sense now that you bring it up that LGB can't/won't grow bigger. I can also imagine that until the industry calms down, there won't be any new domiciles (gotta stay nimble to take advantage of any major changes in the industry). I have been very impressed with the planning dept. at JB.

Thanks for the info on the maintenance. I figured that warranties come up in 5 years, but wasn't sure. Has JB ever thought about acquring any busses other than new ones (ie. if a bunch came available from another major dumping planes), or are the engine mismatches and other things too much of a hassle?

One last quickee question. Do you have any idea what the percentage of pilots who are already on the property are inquiring about west coast flying and domicles? I ask that, because ultimately that is where I would like to end up (OAK-JFK is a killer commute, but doable), but seniority would likely keep me out for quite a long time if 70% of the current pilots would bid west coast when and if it ever opened. Of course, have to assume that west coast would never open, but one can hope!

I have several other questions, but let me finish reading the 10K and other stuff, so I don't drive you crazy with questions I can answer myself.

Thanks again

 

[Counselair]

Any time Skirt. Do you have a link to the 10K site. I haven't seen that one yet.

Thanks,

Counselair

 

[Splert]

http://biz.yahoo.com/e/l/j/jblu.html

 

[jointops]

Skirt,

Just heard Dave Barger address about 40 of us this week. LGB and OAK are the key players for west coast. However, until we find out what UAL and AA are going to do, they won't commit to any long term west coast plans. They knowingly admit, they'll have to have one within the next 2-3 years.

With the company having public accountability (due to the IPO) all destinations and growth are close hold info. Again see the above statement as to why the destination cities change daily.

Can't really say I know the answer as to why we don't buy planes from other carriers. I just know that's not the plan. We get such a great price on the new ones (with warranty) why buy used? The engines are definitely a factor, brake fans, etc.

I used to commute out of OAK (LAS now) and there are about 10 pilots from the OAK area that I can think of off hand. We substitute fly for one another to help minimize the commute.

Oddly enough, the trans con flights go pretty junior (productivity is part of it because our day out and backs pay up to 8 hours). As a line holder I was able to spend about 20 nights a month at home (including days off and trips I bid for). I could probably have spent more time at home, but I'm a nervous commuter and usually came in the night before a trip started.

If I had to guess as to west coast commuters in general it would be around 60 pilots. That's 10%.

Hope that helps and happy landings

 

[AlbieF15]

Here's a link for interview prep....the old banner ad has disappeared for now. Trying to get it back up (so to speak....)

http://hometown.aol.com/ahaganf15/myhomepage/business.html

Good luck to everyone!

 

[skirt]

Jointops,

You are a fountain of info. Phenominal. What else did Dave Barger say in his gathering today. I sure like the level of communication that goes on at JB.

skirt

 

[Jeff G]

2. I know where some of the main management came from
(SWA, American and of course the boss creating Morris Air
and Westjet). How about the chief pilot, director of safety,
marketing/strategic planning guy/gal, and the others in the
upper management (say the top 10 guys/gals).

Hi,

I don't have much to add except to this question. I'm not 100% sure about some specifics, but you can find some of this information in the prospectus. It has bios on all the company directors. Granted, many of the directors aren't operational airline types, but you'll at least get a snapshot of the top 5 or so. Some of the original company officers (CFO, People) came from SWA. Dave Barger was a VP at CAL. Holly Nelson was at NWA (I think). The core marketing staff mostly came from Virgin. The planning staff is locked in a room in southern CT with their crystal ball, performing amazing feats of prognistication and number crunching. No clue where they were found (Vegas bookies? NASA?). The flying types (VP ops, CP, asst CP's) all have prior civilian flying backgrounds, but that's the only common denominator that I can tell. Major, freight, supplemental, national, small jet, regional, foreign carriers, they're all represented, often more than one in the same individual. It's hard to pigeonhole a lot of pilots here, and that goes for the flight ops leadership as well.

Good luck on your interview!

 

[Counselair]

Well, how'd you guys do? Hopefully well. Were there any surprises in the interview? Any technical questions? Any changes to the gouge?

Good luck to all,

Counselair

 

[cgmason1]

I would also like to get any gouge or interview de-brief.

Thanks-hope everyone did well.

JetBlue is the wave of the future.

Fly Safe
Chuck

 

[SMMustang]

Nothing to debrief. What you've heard is what it is. Although, it was intersting in that all 9 interviews for your time slot are done at the same time in the same conference room. No letter yet, which is a good thing. I will offer more when it is available...I guess in a couple months.

 

[jointops]

Mustang,

The reason for the same interview room for the candidates is due in part to our growth and in part to our "people concept".

Once we stopped interviewing at out HQ (we had to basically take over an entire floor dedicated to personnel offices and use those for interviews) we realized we had to have larger facilities to conduct the interviews.

Additionally, during debriefs we were told that there is "comfort in numbers" and candidates actually prefer the approach. So you (well those before you) spoke, we listened and adjusted our approach accordingly to make the interviewees more comfortable. We realize everyone is nervous during an interview anyway, and we want to alleviate that in any manner possible. If this supposedly helps, then we'll all about making it work for you.

If you found it distracting, let someone know your take on it. We're always receptive to constructive criticism.

Best of luck and happy landings,

 

[SMMustang]

I didn't find it distracting at all, and actually liked it like the previous debriefs. However, it was the only thing that I wasn't completely aware of before the interview and I just wanted to pass that along to those who are curious. Because other than that small tidbit, I really have nothing to add to what has been already said, or was this common knowledge and I just didn't find it?

 

[skirt]

For those who are curious, the JetBlue process is exactly as advertised. There are no tricks. Very user friendly, and comfortable. Yes, the process now has everyone in a group (8-9 at a time) interviewing in a big room. It was awkward for about two seconds, then very reassuring. You could hear a soft murmur from the other candidates, but not so much that it was distracting. In fact it was kind of nice to see everyone going through the process together. Nice touch. From first impression they selected a good group of folks to go through the process, and I sure hope all 63 get to move forward.

The entire group, from the flight attendants who were brought in to help, to the HR reps and the pilots, were great, and I'm not saying that because I would like to work there, it is just a statement of fact.

Take it from a person who has seen the "high life", this JetBlue outfit has it figured out. I've tried to find the "catch". There isn't one. If you don't have an application in yet, put it in now. Wish us all luck. Whether I make the cut or not, I have a strong appreciation for the quality of the people, the process and the company
Skirt

 

[BLUE BAYOU]

For those who are wondering-- between now and September, Jetblue will be training 24 per month with 12 in each class as a goal. So for those of you who've interviewed recently, your odds are pretty good!!!