JetBlue Chairman’s Bowdoin Connection Helped Launch Portland Service
By Tux Turkel, Portland Press Herald, Maine
Apr. 4–Michael Lazarus had a problem a couple of years ago, after his son was accepted at Bowdoin College in Brunswick.
Lazarus, the founding chairman of JetBlue Airways, lives in San Francisco.
“I’m never going to see this kid again,” he joked with fellow board members.
“I need the Polar Bear Express.” The reference to Bowdoin College’s mascot meant little or nothing to the JetBlue board. But Lazarus had planted a seed. Management studied routes and fares, and that contributed to the low-cost carrier’s decision to start service last year at Portland International Jetport.
Lazarus told this little-known story Tuesday in an interview following a breakfast presentation at the college titled, “Why Would Anyone Be Crazy Enough to Start an Airline?” Lazarus is managing partner at the Weston Presidio investment firm in San Francisco. He also was an early believer and investor in the vision of David Neeleman, JetBlue’s founder and chief executive.
Lazarus spoke to college alumni and local business leaders about the challenges of getting a successful discount airline off the ground, in a highly structured industry known for its steep cost structure and poor customer service. He also talked briefly of JetBlue’s future challenges in the aftermath of February’s snowstorm, which canceled hundreds of flights and stranded passengers for days.
JetBlue began Portland service last May. It has four round trips a day to JFK International Airport in New York, typically aboard 100-seat regional jets.
JetBlue has helped lower Jetport fares, so the competition that it poses is important to both business and pleasure travelers. Lazarus said he couldn’t cite the latest statistics, but said planes are largely full.
“Portland has been a very successful market for us,” he said.
JetBlue launched its first flight from JFK in 2000. Today, it offers 550 daily flights to 51 destinations. Growth has come by assembling a top management team, Lazarus said, and training employees to treat fliers like valued customers, not passengers. People will fly once for a low price, he said; they return for good service.
Those ambitions took a hit in mid-February, when JetBlue’s operations virtually collapsed under the weight of ice and snow.
Neeleman apologized in the media, and the airline created a so-called customer bill of rights, which gives refunds and vouchers for cancellations and prolonged delays. The Valentine’s Day storm was a lesson for an airline that had outgrown its communications and reservation systems.
“High-growth companies have to build infastructure faster than sales,” Lazarus said.
JetBlue has had the discount market to itself in Portland over the past year. That will change in June, when low-fare carrier AirTran starts service to Baltimore-Washington International, a move that could further cut the cost of air travel in Maine. Lazarus is critical of the management and labor cultures at many airlines. He said, however, that AirTran is a well-managed company and strong competitor.
Lazarus, who stepped down from the JetBlue board in December, said he can’t take all the credit for bringing the airline to Portland. Management had been looking to expand, and small airports are always courting low-fare carriers. But Lazarus said he initiated the idea of taking a hard look at Portland.
Lazarus will continue to take a special interest in Portland, flying into the Jetport perhaps four times a year to visit his son, who’s set to graduate in 2009.
Maybe he’ll be making the trip more often. His daughter just won early acceptance at Bowdoin and will start her freshman year in the fall.
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