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A Fresh Take on Flying起飞
In late fall 2004, a powerful rainstorm battered New England, reducing visibility and snarling travel. The storm struck on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, during the busiest travel period of the year, and flights at Boston's Logan International Airport were backed up. In response, one enterprising crew member at JetBlue Airways headquarters in Queens, New York, loaded airline staffers into his GMC Yukon SUV, and drove north through the gale to help out. The guy at the wheel is JetBlue's founder and chief executive, David Neeleman.
2004年的深（晚）秋，一股强风暴席卷英格兰，导致能见度降低，（旅客）出行受阻。风暴（恰好是）在感恩节前的周三，也是一年中最繁忙的出行期登陆，造成波斯顿的洛根国际机场所有出行航班被取消。而与此相反的是，捷蓝航空公司却有一位胆识过人的雇员从纽约王后大道的总部，将航空装备装上他的通用Yukon越野车，驱车顶风北上前去救难。车上的这个人就是捷蓝航空公司的创始人兼首席执行官——戴维·尼尔曼。
\"You have got to be close to the action,\" says the 46-year-old entrepreneur. Action is something that there is certainly plenty of at JetBlue, the high-flying upstart that launched in the winter of 2000. Today it's one of the fastest growing airlines in the country, generating more than a billion dollars a year in revenue with 401 flights daily to 36 cities in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean. With a winning combination of financial acumen, old-fashioned common sense and devout religious faith, Neeleman has propelled JetBlue into the ranks of the nation's major airlines.
46岁的公司老板戴维·尼尔曼说：“你必须要接近（亲临）行动现场”。自2000冬成立就一鸣惊人的捷蓝航空公司，行动当然是够多。每天，它有401个架次的飞机飞往美国、加拿大和加勒比海的36个不同城市；每年，它要创造十几亿美圆的营业收入。今天，它已成为美国发展最为迅速的航空公司之一。凭借敏锐的金融嗅觉、丰富的经验和一丝不苟的工作态度，尼尔曼成功地把捷蓝带入了全美主要航空公司行列（使捷蓝跻身全美主要航空公司行列）。
\"He took the traditional business plan and threw it out the window,\" says NBC Today Show travel editor Peter Greenberg, who has covered JetBlue since its start.
自捷蓝成立之日起并给予关注的美国国家广播公司《今日新闻》栏目旅游编辑彼得·格林伯格说：“他接受了传统商业计划然后将它抛在身后。”
\"Airlines have for so long treated people like they were an inconvenience,\" says Neeleman. \"We want to eliminate all those aggravating things that drive you crazy.\" To do that, Neeleman got rid of confusing fare structures, overbooked flights, slow baggage delivery, and those awful in-flight meals. He then added low fares, a user-friendly website for reservations, pre-assigned leather seats, individual DIRECTV (36 channels, and now pay-per-view movies too), and brand-name snacks.
尼尔曼说：“长期以来，空中服务给人的感觉就是不到位，所以我们想把那些让人心烦的服务项目都（给它）取消掉。”依照这种理念，他弃用了容易出错的客票销售结构，不飞行超售航班，加快了行李转运，取消了容易引发纠纷的空中客餐。并新增了低价票、用于机票预定的界面友好网站、预先分派的全皮座椅、人手一台的机上直播数字电视（36个频道和现在新增的计次付费电影）和名牌小吃（名点）。
But what really distinguishes Neeleman's brand is \"an attitude that is not abusive,\" says Greenberg. \"It is a difference you can feel.\"
但真正区别尼尔曼品牌的是格林伯格所说的：“那是一种态度，而不是亵渎，是一种你能体会到的区别。”
JetBlue's customer commitment begins with a commitment to employees. \"We show loyalty to our people,\" says Neeleman. \"We've never laid off anyone -- and have no plans to.\"
捷蓝对顾客的承诺建立在他们对员工的一项承诺上，尼尔曼说：“我们忠诚于我们的雇员，我们从不曾，也将不会解雇任何一名员工。”
All employees receive profit-sharing awards and are offered stock at discounted prices. \"Customers will say to us, 'You're always so happy,'\" says Debra Shea, a flight attendant who's worked for JetBlue for five years. \"We're shareholders ourselves. We have an incentive to be happy and to make everybody happy.\" Neeleman (who has issued himself no new stock options since the company went public) donates his annual $200,000 salary to JetBlue's crew member crisis fund, available to employees facing extreme hardship.
所有捷蓝员工都有分红，都有公司提供的职工配股。在捷蓝公司已经工作了5年的乘务员德布里·谢伊说：“顾客们会对我们说‘你们总是那么快乐’。这是因为我们自己就是持股人，我们有动力让自己快乐，让每一个人快乐。”尼尔曼每年都会将他20万美元年薪悉数捐献给捷蓝航空应急基金，来帮助那些遭遇重大灾难性变故的职员。而尼尔曼在2002年公司上市后却没有配发给自己任何股票期权，
He's also famous for working alongside employees, checking in passengers, serving drinks and handling baggage. He routinely flies on the jetliner, chatting with customers and passing on their feedback. \"He's a mingler,\" says JetBlue executive vice president Tom Kelly.
他还因和员工一起工作出名。清点乘客，为他们递送饮料、拎行李，他还坚持有规律地来到航班飞机中，耐心地聆听乘客对捷蓝的各种意见。连捷蓝公司执行副主席汤姆·凯利都说：“他就似一座桥梁”。
In the early days, JetBlue's Airbus A320s had 27 rows of seats. Row 27 -- the very last one -- did not recline. Like a gracious host, Neeleman always chose that seat for himself when flying, sending a message to crew members that it's more important to keep customers happy than the CEO.
早些年，捷蓝的空中巴士A320有27排座位，第27排，也就是最后一排，不能向后倾斜。而尼尔曼就犹如一位高尚的主人，在飞行途中总是选择坐在第27排，这向乘务人员传达了这样一个信息：让乘客高兴比让 CEO高兴更重要。
Egalitarian instincts are in his DNA. \"I was raised in a home where my father was always for the underdog,\" says Neeleman, one of seven children. At age 20, Gary Neeleman, a journalist, worked with the poor in Brazil while on a Mormon mission. His son traveled to Brazil for missionary work of his own when he was 19. There, he developed an aversion to the notion that money, power or social class put any one person on higher ground. That thinking is at the core of JetBlue's brand identity: \"No first-class seats, no second-class citizens.\"
“平等”深深地植根于尼尔曼心中，家中还有6个兄弟姐妹，他说：“父亲总是帮助受压迫者，我就是在这样的一个家庭中长大的”。20岁时，身为记者的加里·尼尔曼接受摩门教派征召前往巴西传道，同那里的贫苦人们一起劳作。而他的儿子——彼德·尼尔曼也在19岁那年接受征召前往巴西，并渐渐开始反感依照金钱、权力和社会阶层将一个人摆在更高位置。这后来也成了捷蓝公司品牌的核心：“没有一等仓，也没有二等公民。”
Working in his grandfather's Salt Lake City grocery store as a boy, little David learned early what it takes to please a customer. \"We would make these great sandwiches using the best bread and quality meat,\" Neeleman recalls. If a customer wanted an item that wasn't on hand, John Neeleman, the son of Dutch immigrants, would run out himself and buy it.
孩童时，尼尔曼开始到祖父在盐湖城开的便利店做兼职。在那里，小戴维学会了如何取悦顾客这重要的一课。他记起那时他总是重复：“我们会用最好的面包和高品质的肉做这些三明治”。如果店里刚好没有顾客指名购买的东西，身为荷兰后裔的祖父——约翰·尼尔曼就会赶紧从后门跑到附近把东西快快买来交到顾客手中。
Neeleman has an ability to quickly evaluate what's important and what isn't for JetBlue. When a member of his team brought him the satellite technology that enables his planes' seatback TVs, Neeleman's reaction was immediate: \"That's it. That's what we want to do.\" He had the same response to the Web-based technology that allows JetBlue reservations clerks to work out of their homes.
尼尔曼有种能力：他能很快判断出对捷蓝公司什么是重要的，什么是次要的。当团队中的队友给他带来一项卫星电视技术，而这种技术能让他在飞机座椅背后安装电视时，他立刻叫到：“就是它，我们要的就是它。”后来还有一次是对一项基于网络，方便员工在家以外办理机票预定业务的技术，他也做出了同样的反（回）应。
To spend more time at his own home in a Connecticut suburb with his wife of 25 years, Vicki, and their children -- nine of them total, ages 6 to 24 -- Neeleman limits how long the business keeps him away. \"Every night we get together and read some Scripture, so I try to make it home for that,\" he says. On Saturday, you're likely to find him shopping with the family at Costco or at his kids' soccer, basketball, lacrosse or football games. Sundays are for church activities and family dinner. \"I think it's important to make sure that our kids are as normal as possible and don't feel they're somewhat superior just because their father has accomplished some things in life,\" he says.
为了陪伴他结婚25年的妻子——维姬和9个从6岁到24岁的孩子，他限定了自己的工作时间，其余则呆在康涅狄格州郊区的家中。他说：“每晚我们都会齐聚家中阅读圣经，我尽力让它有个家的样子（象个家）。”周六，你很有可能会在科斯特科超市见他同家人一起购物，或是在球场上同孩子们玩橄榄球、篮球、曲棍球或是足球。周日，他则参加教堂活动，与家人共进晚餐。他解释说：“让孩子尽可能地健康的成长，不因为他们的父亲作成的一些事情就觉得高人一等，这相当的重要”。
The Faith to Stay Sky High（高飞的信念）
Neeleman got his start in business while a student at the University of Utah, selling package trips to Hawaii. After dropping out of college in 1982, he went to work for Salt Lake City travel agent June Morris. Together they created Morris Air, a small, low-cost airline that they sold to Southwest Airlines in 1993 for more than $100 million in stock. Neeleman also accepted a position at Southwest, but ultimately decided he was too outspoken and entrepreneurial for a place he describes as \"having all kinds of rules.\"
尼尔曼从商还是从在犹他大学就读期间出售到夏威夷的套装旅游行程开始。1982年他辍学到盐湖城的摩里斯旅行社工作，并与琼·摩里斯一道投资创立了小型的、低成本运营的摩里斯航空公司。1993年，西南航空公司以一亿多公司股票买下了摩里斯航空公司经营权， 尼尔曼也加入了西南航空公司，但最终认定自己在那里——一个到现在都被他描述成“规则太多”之地，表现太过坦率。
A non-compete clause kept him from working in the U.S. airline business for five years, so he moved to Canada and, in 1996, helped launch WestJet, another low-fare carrier. He also helped create the industry's first paperless ticket system, which he sold to Hewlett-Packard in 1998.
一项竞业条款说明（说明）他在离职的5年内不得从事与美国国内航空业有关的事业。于是他迁到加拿大，并在1996年帮助筹建了另一个低成本航空公司——西部捷运。同时，还出资开发了第一个航空业无纸化计算机售票系统，后在1998年卖给了惠普公司。
With a business plan he'd drawn up for JetBlue, Neeleman went to Wall Street next. Within a few months he had raised $130 million, the highest amount of capital for a start-up in aviation history.
带着为捷蓝公司设计的运营计划，尼尔曼走进华尔街寻求融资，在短短几个月里，他就筹到了1.3美元。而美国航空史上最成功的融资筹建航空公司的个案就这样产生了。
So far, he's delivered impressive results. Early on, JetBlue reported 18 consecutive profitable quarters at a time when many airlines were hemorrhaging cash. The company went public in 2002, and in its fifth year of operation became the 15th largest airline in the United States by traffic.
截止目前，他已向世人递交了一份满意的答卷。在早期其他公司大幅亏损时，捷蓝公司连续18个季度盈利。2002年，捷蓝正式上市，在它成立5年后就占据全美运输业第15位。
Looking ahead, Neeleman worries about protecting the corporate culture he has so carefully cultivated. He admits he can't connect with as many of his 10,000 employees as he'd like. He remains undaunted, though, by the prospect of rapid growth.
放眼未来，尼尔曼为如何推广他精心培养的企业文化而忧虑重重，他承认，他不可能如他所愿地联络公司多达万名员工。但面对公司的迅速发展，他仍将毫不畏惧，勇敢向前。
\"It's time for us to really shine, and do better at the things we do,\" says Neeleman. Given the strength of its founder's faith, JetBlue is pretty likely to keep flying high.
尼尔曼说：“该是我们耀眼，该是我们将所从事的工作推向前进的时候啦！”有了公司创始人忠贞的信仰，捷蓝一定能以彭湃的动力驰骋在蓝天之上，飞得更高。
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发表于 2006-9-5 18:20:32