JetBlue Eliminates Travel Agent Commissions
New York, NY (April 24, 2002) - JetBlue Airways (Nasdaq: JBLU), New York’s low-fare airline, will no longer pay commissions to travel agents on travel sold throughout the United States (including Puerto Rico). This change will take effect at 12:01am (EDT), Thursday, April 25, 2002.
“As a low-fare carrier, we need to keep our cost structure as low as possible,” said David Neeleman, JetBlue’s chief executive officer. “When our competitors cut commissions, we took a wait-and-see approach to see if our travel agent bookings increased. Over the last month, travel agency bookings actually decreased as a percentage of our overall business. Under these circumstances, we couldn’t justify paying the extra expense when our competitors weren’t.”
JetBlue is a low-fare, low-cost passenger airline, which provides high-quality customer service. Since launching operations in February 2000, JetBlue has served more than 5 million passengers. The airline flies a fleet of 24 new Airbus A320 aircraft and will take delivery of another 10 A320s by the end of 2002. All JetBlue aircraft are outfitted with roomy all-leather seats each equipped with free LiveTV satellite television, offering 24 channels of DIRECTV programming at every seat.
In February 2002, JetBlue won Air Transport World magazine’s 2002 “Market Development Award,” for its successful first two years of service, and also was named Best Overall Airline by Onboard Services magazine. Last year, the airline ranked first in Conde Nast Traveler’s 2001 Business Travel Awards, second in the Best Domestic Airline category in the magazine’s 14th Annual Readers’ Choice Awards, and number two Best Domestic Airline in the 2001 Zagat Airline Survey.
JetBlue operates 112 flights per day, serving 18 cities in nine states. From its base in New York City’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, JetBlue flies to: Fort Lauderdale, Tampa, Orlando, Fort Myers and West Palm Beach, FL; Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse, NY; Long Beach, Ontario and Oakland, CA; Burlington, VT; New Orleans, LA; Denver, CO; Salt Lake City, UT; and Seattle, WA. The airline also serves Fort Lauderdale from Washington, DC.
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JetBlue is scheduled to add twice-daily service between Washington, DC and both Oakland and Long Beach starting May 1, and three daily round-trip flights between JFK and San Juan, Puerto Rico, commencing May 30.
With JetBlue, all seats are assigned, all travel is ticketless, all fares are one-way, and a Saturday night stay is never required. The airline is offering $5 each way off all fares booked through its web site, www.jetblue.com, through May 31. For more information, schedules and fares, please visit www.jetblue.com or call JetBlue reservations at 1-800-JETBLUE (538-2583).
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