JetBlue adopting big rivals' traits amid growth

FOREST HILLS, N.Y. — Last year, upstart JetBlue Airways became a "major" airline, one the government recognizes as having more than $1 billion in annual revenue. When employees ask founder and Chief Executive David Neeleman what that means, he responds: "We ought to lose money, I guess."

He's only half joking. All of the nation's larger full-service carriers have piled up billions of dollars in losses while discounter JetBlue has been a profitable bird for 18 consecutive quarters. For JetBlue to remain one of the industry's most successful new entrants ever, it has to become more like those giants — but not too much.

JetBlue and other budget carriers have been growing rapidly, poaching customers from the country's more established but deeply troubled big airlines. Now, in an attempt to perpetuate its ascent, JetBlue has shown a new willingness to take on some of the unwieldy characteristics of its bigger competitors. The move marks a clear break from the so-far-successful formula pioneered by discount king Southwest Airlines and copied by a handful of other, newer low-cost carriers.

JetBlue has distinguished itself from Southwest by offering many long-haul flights and treating customers to more creature comforts. But until now, it has hewed closely to Southwest's strategy of staying simple.

For most of its five-year life, JetBlue has embraced a cost-conscious culture in which it flew only one type of plane, limited its New York flights to John F. Kennedy International Airport, and eschewed building costly hangars and terminals. Operating from a crowded, rented office tower near its base at Kennedy, JetBlue now is the nation's 10th-largest airline by traffic. With 8,600 employees, the discount carrier serves 32 cities in the United Sates and Caribbean with a fleet of 80 midsize Airbus A320s.

With a small work force, the company cultivated fierce loyalty among employees, keeping at bay labor tensions that have embroiled competitors. Those tensions surfaced recently at Northwest Airlines, whose mechanics and aircraft cleaners were replaced by the company after workers went on strike to protest plans for job and pay cuts.

By the end of 2010, JetBlue expects to employ up to 30,000 workers and operate 275 planes, more than No. 7 US Airways flies today. Many of those planes will be new Embraer 190s, a smaller jetliner aimed at new, shorter routes that will complement JetBlue's long-haul workhorse Airbus A320s.