“Once, and everything works out”: how David Neelman conquered the aviation market four times

David Neeleman had a hand in creating four successful airlines - a significant achievement in a market where 90% of projects fail. Right in the midst of a pandemic, a businessman intends to launch a new carrier, he is sure that the time is the best for this

Among the beliefs of America's most successful living aviation entrepreneur, David Neeleman, are, for example, this: many, he believes, are overreacting to covid-19 . “I think people who wear masks on the street while maintaining social distance are complete idiots,” he says. Neelman is especially annoyed by those who put on two protective masks at once. “I just want to go up to them, shake them and shout: “What's wrong with you!”

When a BLOOMBERG correspondent met with Neeleman on a sunny March afternoon in a typical office setting in Darien, Connecticut, the entrepreneur did have a mask on. The mask was plain and black, without the logos of his new airline, Breeze Airways, or the Brazilian carrier Azul, of which he remains the chairman and controlling shareholder (and in whose subsidiary office the interview took place). The logo of the JetBlue airline, which Neeleman founded in 1999 at the age of 39, was not found on the mask. Neeleman ran it until he was removed from his position as CEO eight years later.

Masked over his broad and still mischievous face, Neelman, 61, looked like all obedient citizens eager to do their part in the fight against the pandemic. But then, grinning, he removed the mask and showed it to the reporter. The material from which it was made was a mesh with holes so large that it could only protect against mosquitoes. “It’s so I can breathe,” he explained, and laid out his fake protective equipment on the conference table. Neither Neeleman nor the Bloomberg correspondent have yet been vaccinated. To the latter, his own medical mask immediately seemed somehow defiant. And he decided to remove the remedy.

The correspondent met with Neeleman to talk about Breeze Airways, the US low-cost domestic airline.headquartered in his hometown of SALT Lake City. The carrier will start flying by summer. The business plan is borrowed from previous generations of budget airlines. The first is the point-to-point network of small airports, which was pioneered by Southwest Airlines Co. in the 1970s and 1980s. Secondly, this is a schedule according to which flights are made only on those days that are in demand among travelers. Thirdly, this is a beautiful modern fleet, managed by young crews, whose members receive not too high salaries. The last point distinguishes the new carrier from JetBlue Airways at the beginning of the journey. Neeleman calls Breeze Airways "the most enjoyable airline." He also likes to say that it's "a tech company that happens to fly planes."