Diagnosed with attention deficit disorder, which explains his teenage aversion to reading and writing, Neeleman refuses to take medication, afraid it will dull his creativity.

During a brief stint with Southwest Airlines in 1994, Neeleman's disregard for corporate protocol offended many at the Dallas-based discount giant. In meetings, according to Barbara Peterson's book "Blue Streak," he would scribble in his notebook, over and over, "DSAW," short for "Don't Say A Word."

But many others in the industry remain charmed by his restless energy — Neeleman claims his disorder allows him to focus almost exclusively on a single goal, the success of JetBlue. Mike Chen, head of North American sales and marketing for GE Commercial Aviation Services, still recalls a meeting where the JetBlue CEO climbed atop a conference table at the GE unit's headquarters to show his excitement about the new airline.

"Very amusing," said Chen, a neighbor of Neeleman's in suburban Connecticut.

Neeleman's boyish impatience and sincerity can be awkward sometimes, concedes Barbara Peterson, the author who spent years chronicling JetBlue's rise. But he is also "the kind of person who can really mesmerize a crowd when he is really on."

Behind Neeleman's cult of personality is an airline that so far has defied the track record of countless airline startup failures since Congress deregulated the industry in 1978. Profitable for its first four years — it lost $20 million last year due to the rising cost of jet fuel — it is now the country's 10th-largest carrier, in terms of traffic, and by the end of 2010, plans to climb to 30,000 workers, from 10,000 currently, and to 275 planes, from 99. The company consistently ranks among the industry's best in customer satisfaction, with live TVs at every seat, fashionably dressed flight attendants, pizza during long layovers at the airport and a policy never to overbook — that is, sell more tickets than seats.

Still, while JetBlue has been an unprecedented success for a startup, "I think (Neeleman's) keenly aware of how easy it is to stumble in this business," Peterson said. Even today, living in an 8,000-square-foot home in suburban Connecticut and atop an airline with more than $1 billion in revenue, he knows that his competitors — especially the major airlines hurt by JetBlue incursions in the East — are waiting for him to slip up.

Some analysts already are warning that JetBlue's hot streak may be over. Its on-time performance is down, its costs are up and it is taking on a new type of plane, the 100-seat Embraer 190, which will complicate everything from main- tenance to training and move the company away from the simple model that got it started.