NEW YORK, Feb. 10, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- As JetBlue Airways turns five this week, the full story of the airline's remarkable rise is told for the first time in book form in "BLUE STREAK: Inside JetBlue, the Upstart that Rocked an Industry" published by Portfolio, an imprint of The Penguin Group (USA).
On Friday, Feb. 11, Hudson Booksellers, one of the country's largest operators of airport bookstores, will host a signing from 10:30 a.m. to 12 noon with BLUE STREAK author Barbara S. Peterson at JFK Airport's Terminal 6, JetBlue's home base with some 200 flights a day. Peterson is a contributing editor at Conde Nast Traveler and an aviation expert who has followed the JetBlue story from the beginning.
Many skeptics doubted at first that JetBlue could succeed in building a low-fare airline in New York. And no one could have predicted that the airline's first five years would coincide with the worst downturn in aviation history.
Drawing on interviews with more than 75 JetBlue insiders, including founder and CEO David Neeleman and president Dave Barger, BLUE STREAK recounts how JetBlue defied the odds to achieve the rank of airline "major" -- with more than $1 billion in annual revenues -- faster than any other carrier in history. JetBlue currently operates 276 daily flights, with a fleet of 70 Airbus A320s, to 30 airports in 12 states, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and The Bahamas.
Peterson also took part in JetBlue's three-week inflight crew training course to detail the in-house culture that made it possible to "bring humanity back to air travel," in Neeleman's words, with the company's 8000 employees, or "crewmembers," creating a standard for service that has won it many awards and is now widely imitated in the airlines and other businesses. Blue Streak also gives the real story of how the airline got its name; how Neeleman pulled together his "dream team" from such seemingly incompatible companies as Southwest and Virgin, and how JetBlue survived the effects of 9/11 by taking the lead on aviation security.
BLUE STREAK has earned praise as a "compelling read" and "an engaging peek inside the industry" from numerous publications such as the Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times, and Publishers Weekly. It has been featured on National Public Radio's Morning Marketplace Report, Bloomberg TV and other national broadcast media.
"BLUE STREAK: Inside JetBlue, the Upstart that Rocked an Industry"
Hardcover/$24.95
ISBN 1-59184-058-9