Question

what is the key strategy issue for JetBlue case study?

Answer 1

JetBlue’s business strategy

As according to the JetBlue’s Annual report of year 2006, the business strategies and the goal of that they have formulated include to establish as a high quality, low-fare, low-cost passenger airline. They intend to maintain a growth plan that takes advantage of their competitive strengths. The key elements of their strategy are:

Stimulate Demand with Low Fares. JetBlue’s low fares are designed to stimulate demand, particularly from fare-conscious leisure and business travelers who might otherwise have used alternative forms of transportation or would not have traveled at all. By introducing new aircrafts, JetBlue targeted to the mid-sized markets and to further increase the frequency of flights of their existing routes.

Commitment to Low Costs. JetBlue’s low costs have allowed them to offer fares low enough to stimulate new demand and to attract customers away from higher-priced competitors. JetBlue expected to continue to aggressively control costs and maintain their focus on low-cost carrier spending habits.

Offer High Quality Service and Product. JetBlue believes that a key element of their success is that, in addition to offering low fares, the offer to customers a better alternative for air travel. Onboard JetBlue, customers enjoys a distinctive flying experience, which is refer to as the ”JetBlue Experience”, that includes friendly, customer service-oriented employees, new aircraft, roomy leather seats with multiple channels of free LiveTV, many channels of free XM satellite radio and movie channels. The onboard offering includes generous brand name snacks, premium beverages and specially designed products for the overnight flights.

JetBlue makes it a must to communicate openly and honestly with customers about delays, especially when weather or mechanical problems disrupt service. We do not cancel flights, unless absolutely necessary, in order to fulfill our commitment of getting customers to their destination even if it means getting them there late.

Grow JetBlue’s presence in New York City and expand the network. Since the inception of the airline, the focused JetBlue’s primary operations were in New York City. JetBlue is the largest airline at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, as measured by passengers and, by the end of 2006; the domestic operations at JFK were almost equal to those of all the other airlines combined. JetBlue believes that by building the operations in the nation’s largest travel market, more market opportunities would become available to them than if they focused their operations elsewhere.

Operate new and efficient aircraft. By the end of 2006, JetBlue maintains a fleet consisting of only two types of aircraft (Airbus A320 and EMBRAER 190). JetBlue believes in operating with newer fleet, with the latest technologies, which proves to be more efficient and dependable than older aircraft.

JetBlue business practices and its business strategy.

As according to the JetBlue’s website, to date, they have archived 162 awards. This proves their success and that their strategy works for them.

It could be believed that the experience the passengers (except of the victims of the February 2007 incident) had in the journey in JetBlue could be one of the most important reasons why the passengers choose JetBlue over and over again.

In 2006, JetBlue completed 99.6% of their scheduled flights and it was the highest percentage of any major airline that year. Unlike most other airlines, as policy, JetBlue does not overbooking their flights.

Right after the 14 February 2007 incident, JetBlue announced the “Customer Bill of Rights” which has compensated the doubts in hearts of the public. On July 2007, JetBlue announced that its second-quarter revenue increased to $730 million, compared to $612 million in 2006. Second quarter net income grew to $21 million for the quarter, from $14 million the previous year. This shows that right after a crisis situation, the airline made tremendous recovery and gained customers trust.

Conclusion
JetBlue Airways is an American low-cost airline owned by JetBlue Airways Corporation. Since its first operation in 2000, the airline has been successfully achieving customers praising and also multiple awards for its services. On 14 February 2007, a JetBlue flight from John F. Kennedy International Airport to Cancún, Mexico was delayed on the ramp in a snowstorm, keeping passengers on the plane for nearly nine hours. Throughout that day, at least nine other JetBlue aircraft were also stranded on the tarmac, keeping the passengers on board. With massive public relation tactics and public apologies then, CEO, Mr. David Neelmen managed to get the public on their side. On 10 May 2007, JetBlue announced Barger’s appointment as CEO, who also retains the position of President. Neeleman, who was named non-executive Chairman of the Board, Mr. Burger needs to reflect his success on the experience that the airline had in the past. By reviewing the “Customer Bill of Rights” and adopting it to the present, Mr. Burger would not find it hard to fly the company in to the high sky. With its strategic plan and customer relation tactics, the success of the airline is not in a far distance.