David Neeleman

CEO of JetBlue Airlines

David Neeleman is the CEO of Azul Airlines, Brazil.  Neeleman was  featured in Inc.com Magazine, as one of the most fascinating entrepreneurs.  In the article, he was highlighted for “creating an airline fit for human beings.”  The reference was to his airline, Jet Blue.  He is best known for excellent customer service on his airplanes.  His main goal is to make every customer feel respected and well-served.

Much of his professional success, he attributes to skills he learned during his time as a Mormon missionary in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.  His mission taught him to be disciplined, organized, and aware of the needs of others.  He attributes his creativity and ingenuity to his ADD, which he has had since childhood.

While at Jet Blue, despite being an extremely successful CEO, Neeleman’s salary was only $200,000 a year.  Instead of increasing his salary, Neeleman donated his salary to the company employee catastrophe fund and declined to have stock options in his contract.  Neeleman was quoted saying,“my feeling is, how much do you really need?”  Jet Blue boasted low fares and economy class seating.  However, the planes were complete with leather seats and personalized televisions for each customer.  Neeleman’s specialty area is customer service.  Neeleman has been quoted, saying, “take care of your employees first; they will take care of your customers, and your customers will take care of your shareholders.”

Neeleman was born in Brazil, where his father was a business entrepreneur.  He attended high school in Cottonwood Heights, Utah, and attended University of Utah upon serving a Mormon mission in Rio de Janeiro.  Neeleman dropped out of college and soon became interested in the air charter business. He was co-founder of Morris Air, which he sold to Southwest Airlines.  For a brief period, he worked on the Executive Planning Committee for Southwest Airlines.  Soon after, he founded JetBlue Airlines.

He built the airline into America’s eighth largest and ascended into the ranks of the most admired and innovative CEOs. But when an epic ice storm hit in 2007 and revealed his deficiencies as a manager — he staged a haphazard response plan and failed to communicate to the board — he was ousted.  For the most part Neeleman has distanced himself from JetBlue. While he once owned 10.8 million shares, he now has just a couple million.  JetBlue’s stock has tumbled 40% since Neeleman left the company.  From his ouster from JetBlue and other hard-earned lessons, Neeleman launched his newest business venture, Azul Airlines of Brazil.

Azul was founded in 2008 as a Latin twist on JetBlue (pronounced “a-ZOOL,” azul is “blue” in Portuguese). It’s Neeleman’s biggest gamble yet. Neeleman raised $235 million for the venture, a record for a new airline. Personally, he has invested $13 million, some four times the amount he sank into JetBlue.

The airline industry is a notoriously bad investment. Of the major industries on the Fortune 500, airlines have the worst 10-year total return to shareholders.  But Neeleman is adamant that airlines can pay off — if you know where to put your money. Brazil, Latin America’s largest economy, has rebounded quickly from the financial crisis, and has a burgeoning middle class.

In its brief life span, at least, Azul has proved Neeleman right. The airline started flying in December 2008 and registered 2.2 million passengers in its first 12 months, shattering the previous record for a startup airline — held by JetBlue. [1]  Neeleman isn’t in this just for the money. The stakes are personal. He was born in São Paulo and lived in Brazil until he was 5. His father, then a journalist for UPI, moved the family back to Utah. But at 19, David returned to Brazil to do his Mormon mission work.

Azul is now the only major airline with all Brazil-made jet planes: Neeleman has 18 new midsize Embraer jets in his fuel-efficient fleet and has committed to buy 28 more, at a total list price of $1.7 billion. By charging low fares and providing more frequent and direct service to 17 cities than the competition, Azul has captured 5.8% of the local air-travel market.  Since many Azul customers don’t have cars and taxis are expensive, Neeleman decided to provide free bus service from points in São Paulo and five other cities around the airport.

Neeleman is the father of nine children with his wife, Vicki.  His belief in Mormonism has greatly affected the manner in which he runs his business.  His commitment to the Mormon ethic seeps into every aspect of his business, continually improving it.  A large part of his success is due to his strength in human relations and his commitment to serving others.