Jet Blue's CFO Just Quit

[johnsonrod]

I just read in today's WSJ (11/9) that Jet Blue's CFO (John Harvey) just quit to pursue "other professional interests." Hmmmmm. I guess working in the airline industry for most of his career (including time at SWA) and then ascending the ranks to CFO of a growing LCC airline wasn't good enough for him. That sounds odd to me because he sounded like an "airline guy" who enjoyed this crazy business...

Is this an ominous sign? What could this mean? First the founder is out. Now the CFO unexpectedly resigns. Any thoughts?????

See below:

JetBlue names Ed Barnes interim CFO

Thu Nov 8, 2007 5:21pm EST

LOS ANGELES, Nov 8 (Reuters) - JetBlue Airways (JBLU.O: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Thursday it had named Ed Barnes interim chief financial officer effective immediately following the resignation of John Harvey, who intends to pursue other professional interests. Barnes has been with the company since last year, most recently as senior vice president of finance and principal accounting officer

 

[Pocono Pilot]

It's Still nine chess moves away, but soon it will be clear.

Consolodation is coming and jetBlue will be without a dance partner.

American-British Airways
United-US Airways
Delta-Northwest
Southwest-AirTran-Alaska
Continental-CommutAir-Skybus

jetBlue-???

 

[jet600]

netjets or jetblue?

Alright guys......netjets or jetblue? I just finished training at jetblue and I interview next week at netjets.......tell me what ya think....

 

[[email protected]]

jetblue and Frontier?

 

[Pogue Mahone]

It's Still nine chess moves away, but soon it will be clear.

Consolodation is coming and jetBlue will be without a dance partner.


Continental-CommutAir-Skybus

jetBlue-???

Still mad that Continental shot you down eh?

Sour grapes. Nice unicorn btw, is that from your sticker collection?

 

[Draginass]

How much money did he loot out of the company?

 

[popgoesbubble]

Alright guys......netjets or jetblue? I just finished training at jetblue and I interview next week at netjets.......tell me what ya think....

Netjets is by far a safer and better company to work for. Better Pay, No Commute, No crash pad in Lovely Queens, No airport car. FREE HEALTH CARE for the ENTIRE FAMILY! Our owners are much better equiped to ride out higher gas prices that are coming. Yeah you might be flying a small Business jet vs a Mighty E-190 Commuter Jet but does it matter? Maybe to the 27 year old with the Frosted tips hair cut and the Ipod in his ear new Hire at jetblue.

We stay in 4 and 5 star hotels get to keep all the Hotel points and Airline Miles. Taking the Family on vacation by Non reving on any airline is a thing or the past. Just look UAL is thinking about parking 100 jets if fuel goes up.

Oh yeah instead of Overdosing on Blue chips on your next Red eye you can eat a lot healthier here as we can order pretty much what ever we want for food and as many time 4 meals per day.

 

[jet600]

netjets or jetblue?

I interview next week at Netjets and cant wait. Everything sounds so much better than 121 flying to me. Thanks for your input...

 

[johnsonrod]

I interview next week at Netjets and cant wait. Everything sounds so much better than 121 flying to me. Thanks for your input...

Netjets. If the JB CFO is bailing, makes you wonder a bit... Check your PM.

 

[cgmason1]

Spent 3 1/2 yrs at NJA...decent place and great pilots.
NJA vs JB day to day job doesnt even compare.
You will be doing allot more at NJA than flying the airplane.
If it's what you like then good on ya.
I couldn't wait to leave.

Fly Safe
C

 

[HA25]

having done both the Fractional type work on a Citation X and Citation V and 121 flying I can tell you that Frac pilots should get paid a lot more (looks like NJA will be soon).. IT'S A LOT MORE WORK!

You're:

-Pilot
-F/A (or something like it)
-Gate Agent
-Ground Handler
-Bag Handler
-Catering Dept.
-Cabin Cleaning
-Customer Service
-etc..

It's rewarding when you get the job done and the customer is very happy.. heck I've been known to get $100 tips (Ben Stein gave me a check for $250).. but it's a lot of work.. Back when NJA was paying their CA's $50K I was amazed that they put up with it, but with $150K salaries on the horizon, it's almost something I could do again.

For me actually the worse part was the guaranteed 6am flight out of my home town to EWR to get over to TEB every start of a rotation.. it's not the same as j/s commuting, but it still is commuting, and I prefer to be home everynight and to park my car at the airport and drive to / from work. That's just me.

 

[Larcifer]

Spent 3 1/2 yrs at NJA...decent place and great pilots.
NJA vs JB day to day job doesnt even compare.
You will be doing allot more at NJA than flying the airplane.
If it's what you like then good on ya.
I couldn't wait to leave.

Fly Safe
C

Couldn't agree more. I'll take my 18-20 days a month off with tremendous flexibility at F9 any day.

 

[popgoesbubble]

Couldn't agree more. I'll take my 18-20 days a month off with tremendous flexibility at F9 any day.

Yeah Like Every Line Holder at F9 Is getting 18-20 Days off a Month! Let's be relistic what is a new Hire getting? How Long til you can Hold 18-20 Days Off a Month if that is really what you say your getting every month at Frontier. Are your Trips Commutable on Both ends? I don't know any airline that offers 18-20 days off Commutable Lines to the rank and File pilot group. Last I saw on airline Pilot central it says F9 is 12 off per month.

Cgmasion1 did you leave pre or post Contract? I don't know what fleet you were in but I average 2 legs per tour 1 hour to 1.5 hr duration I'm sitting in the Hyatt hotel Day 6 in SFO with No plane or crew we did the same thing Day 2 sat at the Hilton in SJC No Plane aswell. Pay wise a new hire under the current contract on the 7/7 will break $48K first year under the current TA it will between $65-75K debending on the 7/7 thru 18 Day sched. I'm sure you were in the X and they work alot harder then others but we do have guys that come here with small P.P's and think they will get more dates and choose that fleet. As far as bags cleaning up go it nothing in my eye's now if your ofn the CE680 forget it that things a Moving truck with wings and you couldn't get me near that thing especially since all Captain/FO pay will be the same. Also Doesn't JetBlue make there pilots help out the FA's with Cleaning the cabin as well?

 

[johnsonrod]

having done both the Fractional type work on a Citation X and Citation V and 121 flying I can tell you that Frac pilots should get paid a lot more (looks like NJA will be soon).. IT'S A LOT MORE WORK!

You're:

-Pilot
-F/A (or something like it)
-Gate Agent
-Ground Handler
-Bag Handler
-Catering Dept.
-Cabin Cleaning
-Customer Service
-etc..

It's rewarding when you get the job done and the customer is very happy.. heck I've been known to get $100 tips (Ben Stein gave me a check for $250).. but it's a lot of work.. Back when NJA was paying their CA's $50K I was amazed that they put up with it, but with $150K salaries on the horizon, it's almost something I could do again.

For me actually the worse part was the guaranteed 6am flight out of my home town to EWR to get over to TEB every start of a rotation.. it's not the same as j/s commuting, but it still is commuting, and I prefer to be home everynight and to park my car at the airport and drive to / from work. That's just me.

Some people like more interaction with passengers. Some don't. Some pilots would rather just turn left and close the door. I think Netjets offers some great opportunities to meet some very interesting people - the same people you see on the news or read about in magazines. You probably don't see many of those people on Jet Blue (perhaps Rosie Perez on her way to visit her momma in Puerto Rico).

We all know that Netjets pilots don't do everything on that list all the time. FBO linemen also handle bags and Netjets CSRs do a lot of the passenger travel arrangements - maybe not every time but the absolute majority of the time. That is what I have heard from friends at Netjets.

I love it how many of the former Netjets pilots who left before the latest contract seem to know everything about Netjets today. Things have changed and things will continue to get better (especially for the newhires) when the TA passes. 100 domiciles, much better starting pay and 3 types of schedules. Things have changed since many of these people departed.

Also, everyone talks about how busy Netjets pilots can be during their tours. However, this busy schedule does not apply to every fleet - that's a huge point. Sure, the Citation X, Excel and maybe the Sovereign pilots tend to work their arses off because they operate the largest and most popular fleets. There is tremendous demand for shares in these aircraft types - they are popular and they fly a lot. That said, I know guys flying the Encore/Ultra and Beechjet who barely fly at all during their tours - maybe 2-leg days and some days off here and there. It's not like flying 7 legs per day for a regional. I would venture to say that Jet Blue pilots fly more than Beechjet or Ultra/Encore pilots fly at Netjets. Your fleet type makes a big difference in terms of your utilization during your tours... It's too easy to generalize about the entire workforce.

Netjets has changed for the better (especially if the TA passes) for newhires. You cannot apply an old perspective of Netjets to the Netjets of today. It ain't a job for everyone - it requires a huge interest in customer service (you don't need as much interest in the airline business when you can just ask your FAs to take care of it and you can close your door). People need to be more flexible - you don't find the structure you would find in the 121 world. It is a very different type of flying. I wonder how many people regret their decision to come to Jet Blue (from Netjets or otherwise)? Sounds like the CFO wasn't too happy...

 

[HA25]

Some people like more interaction with passengers. Some don't. Some pilots would rather just turn left and close the door. I think Netjets offers some great opportunities to meet some very interesting people - the same people you see on the news or read about in magazines. You probably don't see many of those people on Jet Blue (perhaps Rosie Perez on her way to visit her momma in Puerto Rico).

I did indeed meet a lot of seriously important and interesting people.. most of whom were great.

We all know that Netjets pilots don't do everything on that list all the time. FBO linemen also handle bags and Netjets CSRs do a lot of the passenger travel arrangements - maybe not every time but the absolute majority of the time. That is what I have heard from friends at Netjets.

be careful not to set yourself or your fellow fi.com members hopes high here.. unless the new contract that NJA has prohibits it, you WILL be handling bags a lot (the limo guy usually drops them off at the ramp for you). You're the only one responsible to store bags in the bag hold of your airplane, and unless it's a large one it's a pain in the arse on a hot and humid day in FL.. I really hated it on the Citation X.

I love it how many of the former Netjets pilots who left before the latest contract seem to know everything about Netjets today. Things have changed and things will continue to get better (especially for the newhires) when the TA passes. 100 domiciles, much better starting pay and 3 types of schedules. Things have changed since many of these people departed.

Also, everyone talks about how busy Netjets pilots can be during their tours. However, this busy schedule does not apply to every fleet - that's a huge point. Sure, the Citation X, Excel and maybe the Sovereign pilots tend to work their arses off because they operate the largest and most popular fleets. There is tremendous demand for shares in these aircraft types - they are popular and they fly a lot. That said, I know guys flying the Encore/Ultra and Beechjet who barely fly at all during their tours - maybe 2-leg days and some days off here and there. It's not like flying 7 legs per day for a regional. I would venture to say that Jet Blue pilots fly more than Beechjet or Ultra/Encore pilots fly at Netjets. Your fleet type makes a big difference in terms of your utilization during your tours... It's too easy to generalize about the entire workforce.

Netjets has changed for the better (especially if the TA passes) for newhires. You cannot apply an old perspective of Netjets to the Netjets of today. It ain't a job for everyone - it requires a huge interest in customer service (you don't need as much interest in the airline business when you can just ask your FAs to take care of it and you can close your door). People need to be more flexible - you don't find the structure you would find in the 121 world. It is a very different type of flying. I wonder how many people regret their decision to come to Jet Blue (from Netjets or otherwise)? Sounds like the CFO wasn't too happy...

NetJets is certainly the respectable operation it always should have been for it's pilots now. I worked for an "exclusive" vendor back in 2000-2004 and was shocked at how poorly the pilots were paid (compare to us vendors), and how nice their facilities were.. the two didn't go together.. I would expect bad pay if the operation was a mom and pop or start up, but in 2001 it was a mature, fancy operation and their pilots were paid a fraction (pardon the pun) of what other similar type pilots were paid. NOT ANY MORE.. Bravo for their union.