JetBlue Chairmantalks About Issuesof Airline Industry

By Julie Fishman-Lapin, The Stamford Advocate, Conn.

Oct. 6–There are days when a thunderstorm rolls through New York City and David Neeleman looks out his office window at the hot dog vendor, wishing he could trade places.

“Everything that guy does on his street corner is in his control,” said Neeleman, the founder of low-cost airline JetBlue Airways.

It’s the complete opposite in the airline industry, he said.

“The one thing that absolutely drives me crazy abut the airline business is that there are so many factors beyond our control,” Neeleman said.

His frustration came through yesterday during a speech to the Greenwich Chamber of Commerce at the Milbrook Club, where he candidly discussed some of the problems plaguing the industry.

It’s been a rough year for the New Canaan resident, who was removed as JetBlue’s chief executive in May, three months after the airline canceled nearly 1,700 flights and stranded more than 130,000 passengers because of winter storms.

The debacle cost JetBlue $22 million for storm-related flight disruptions and payments to travelers, as well as a loss of consumer confidence.

Neeleman, who is now JetBlue’s nonexecutive chairman, described a business plagued by political apathy, bureaucratic meddling, high oil prices and sabotaging competitors. It was a disheartening peek into the inner workings of one of the country’s most vital industry sectors.

“Air travel worked beautifully when it was an elitist operation serving the wealthy,” said John Pincavage Jr., chief financial analyst of Pincavage & Associates, a Westport consulting firm specializing in the aviation and aerospace industries.

Now, the skies and runways are overcrowded and the airports can’t handle the situation. “It’s dysfunctional,” Pincavage said.

Air congestion above lower Fairfield County is at an all-time high. Nearly 1.4 million flights passed through the region’s airspace last year, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

What may alleviate the problem, and the subsequent delays, is the FAA’s flight pattern redesign for aircraft leaving and approaching New York’s airports, Neeleman said.

That plan is facing vehement opposition from area residents because it would mean more planes flying over Fairfield County. But Neeleman said their concerns are misplaced.

“If people are worried about noise, do something about Westchester (County Airport). It’s not the airspace redesign,” Neeleman said.

The planes that major airlines fly in and out of New York are not only quiet, but they will be at 10,000 feet by the time they fly over Fairfield County, Neeleman said. At 10,000 feet, “We can hardly ever hear or see them,” he said.

An even larger issue plaguing the industry is the cost of jet fuel, Neeleman said.

The problem is that the country’s elected leaders are ignoring energy issues, he said. “If oil was at $40 a barrel, the world would be a better place. We have a unique ability to reinvent ourselves to solve our problem.”

But elected officials are apathetic, he said. They are putting no resources into studying the use of nuclear energy, reusable energy or converting coal to oil.

“If we took the money we spent on Iraq and spent in on energy, we would be well on our way to be energy independent,” Neeleman said. “It should be a national priority.”

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Copyright (c) 2007, The Stamford Advocate, Conn.

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