Jet Blue

Executive Summary

The airline industry has had hard times since the tragic events of 9/11 and has yet to fully recover. The decline in this industry coupled with the steep competition makes this a difficult industry to be successful in. The costs associated with entering this industry are enormous and with current fuel and labor costs many airlines are having a tough enough time just staying afloat. However, there have been a few airlines that have been able to continue to be successful during these situations and they seem to be low cost carriers.

JetBlue is a low cost carrier that was started 1999 by the founder David Neeleman. The company was established with the idea of bringing humanity back to air travel and strive to make every part of the passengers experience as simple and as pleasant as possible (JetBlue, 2008). From the very beginning, JetBlue has made waves in the airline industry by offering originally 24 channels of television for free which no airline before had done. JetBlue also had a strong emphasis on developing a corporate culture that would breed a successful airline and has won numerous awards for excellent customer service and a unique product offering.

After conducting an evaluation of the JetBlue’s competitive position and its resources, as well as a driving-forces analysis, it can be said that JetBlue should continue with its best-cost provider strategy. The key to JetBlue’s success will be the maintenance of its low-cost, superior customer service combination. Having said this, there are further strategies which need to be implemented and executed in order to ensure JetBlue can sustain growth and strong performance in light of the changes occurring in the industry.

Key recommendations/primary focus:

• Continue best-cost provider strategy.

• Implement a fuel hedging plan so that the future cost of jet fuel can be known and managed to some extent. This is a successful strategy of Southwest Airlines.

• Eliminate routes...