Virgin America Almost Began as JetBlue…

by Adam

Little bit of JetBlue history courtesy of Bloomberg. Flash back to the ’90s, David Neeleman had just left Southwest Airlines after signing a five-year non-compete. To occupy his time, he consulted on the launch of WestJet in Canada, but he wanted a low-cost airline based at JFK. Apparently, he reached out to Richard Branson to discuss the exploitation of JFK’s underused daytime hours.

“We were pretty close to getting a deal.” Yet it wasn’t meant to be, owing to clashes over Branson’s level of control and how much he’d be paid for the Virgin name, Neeleman recounted. “I didn’t want his interference,” he said of Branson. “I just wanted his name.”

Check out the full story of JetBlue here.

RelatedThe Top 5 Reasons JetBlue Wants Virgin America…

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