Roy Biggins

Anyone see that scathing post written by a what looks to be Spirit management?...albeit disgruntled management. Paints a very grim picture of wasteful spending and incompetence led by Robin. Honestly, we couldn't have gotten rid of him soon enough. Hoping Joanna can turn it around. We'll see I guess.

SmitteyB

Where?

filler

Flyby1206

Truly eye opening stuff from VDemerest:

https://www.airliners.net/forum/sear...14113&sr=posts

A lot has been deleted since mods said it wasn’t relevant to the thread, I took a screenshot of most and will try to put it in a thread
Ben Baldanza was leading the charge to replace JetBlue's Revenue Management team, en masse, with those at SPIRIT. This was determined in the formative merger plans created in 2019/2020. Ben was courted for the vacant, independent director BOD seat in late 2017 solely to bring costs in-line with industry norms. JetBlue's financial performance was adequate but costs were soaring. The corporate succession planning for Merger DOI + 1 year included the departure of Robin Hayes and the installation of Ted Christie as CEO. Determined in the formative stages of the merger.

[/quote]2) What was the reaction of B6 management? Were they disappointed to be out of a job or were they happy with the handoff or?[/quote] Robin was the most unhappy camper of the group; I cannot speak to the reactions of lower-level managers; I did not readily interact with management on that low of a level.

[/quote]3) Was B6 going to pulled down to NK levels or was the plan to meet in the middle? Would the combined B6/NK be a ULCC? Would there still be 32inch legroom, Personal TVs at every seat, etc.[/quote] A combined B6/NK reduced costs; inflight entertainment was slated to move to an all-wifi, "Bring Your Own Device" inflight entertainment model in 2028-2029 during a complete reconfiguration of the fleet.

[/quote]4) Any plans for their route network? ie more BOS flying, establishing a big LAX hub, etc[/quote]

The network would have been right-sized to fit the current and predicted market conditions; remember, SPIRIT agreed to divest slots, gates and other associated operational assets at several airports, including BOS and EWR to satisfy the DOT/DOJ. There would have been little in the way of expansion, beyond the new focus city of the proposed combined entity, which never came to fruition. It is key to note that there were several post-merger plans for the combined entity - one of these plans contained the operating agreement and specifics on the Northeast Alliance, which was in limbo during the initial stages of the merger. As far as I recall, there were plans to increase flying in some markets in order to satisfy predicted demand. However, none of the proposed enhancements to the route structure were major in scope or functionality.

[/quote]5) Was any of the low hanging fruit going to be addressed? Think lounges, redo of the FF program, more airline partners, codesharing with Alaska, etc.[/quote]

No lounges. Both B6 and NK agreed that lounge space constituted unnecessary capital expenditures. Airport post-security real estate is at a premium. Albeit an exploratory committee on the B6 side of the house continually evaluated the necessity, profitability and customer impact of a lounge program, real estate costs and expenditures related to lounge build-out were too great to engage in such an endeavor. One conversation I recall was the cost per square foot of available space to build-out lounges at BOS and JFK. As someone put it: "Massport thinks their floors are gold-plated"...not financially viable, considering all lounge memberships would have been GRATIS on the B6 side of the house during the initial stages of the lounge program. A focus group of high-tier MOSAIC customers on the B6 side of the house in the 2015-2016 timeframe determined most customers were unwilling to incur the cost associated with such a limited network-wide lounge offering.

[/quote]6) Were B6 or NK grateful for successful DoJ block?[/quote]

The SPIRIT management team was always skeptical of JetBlue and the DOJ approving the merger.

[/quote]7) What was the deal with Robin Hayes leaving?[/quote]

The Board of Directors asked him to tender his resignation; he was not productive during the merger process, was dismissive of SPIRIT management and their business practices, and, inept at grasping complex airline financing concepts. Robin was not a proponent of this merger. Robin had his proverbial hind-quarters handed to him by the JetBlue BOD. Do not believe the BlueJuice "fluff" surrounding his departure. Anyone who thinks Ben Baldanza was a fan of Robin Hayes, his ego or management style is sorely mistaken. Robin is an engineer who loves airplanes, not an airline manager who understands the complexities of running this form of business in the United States.

Robin brought a 90's British Airways, "hands off, report back to me when able" mindset. Remember, he ran the Americas for BA for several years as their VP Americas. What does that entail? At most 50 flights a day on widebody equipment deployed on single segments nearly devoid of irregular operations, air traffic control constraints and financial protocols. Managing a team of US Station Managers and a well-established alliance partnership does not necessarily create the business acumen required to RUN an American LCC. Robin never dealt with large employee groups, aircraft acquisitions, MRO operations, crew scheduling or US regulatory affairs. Prior to joining JetBlue he was just the BIG station manager of BA's station managers in the Americas. As the Brits are keen to say: "Cushy Job". His biggest task of the day was to join the Stations Conference Call, report on delays/IROPS, and circle the wagons of his station managers to ensure operational integrity. He had little financial management duties and had difficulty grasping financial concepts.

Robin was woefully unprepared and unqualified to take the reigns of JetBlue. He just happened to be the only person available after Barger's unexpected departure.

​​​​​​​[/QUOTE]

SmitteyB

Just read through what is left.

Its basically line operations behind the boardroom door it sounds like. Wow. I was wary and unbelieving of it at first, but the detail is hard to deny.

Shocking the way this is unfolding.

Wasntme

can you paraphrase the stuff that was deleted at all?

MainlineFlyer

Our management team doesn't have a plan. They are clueless and the lack of any kind of apparent vision isn't because of bad communications with the employees, it's because they have no idea what they are doing. Icahn is gonna eat these guys for lunch.

We are gonna get rid of the tvs and make people bring IPads. Basically jet blue is dead as a concept during the next refresh, then dead for real a few years later as people realize they can get crappy product without the delays by flying someone else.

SmitteyB

I didn't see anything that was deleted. But I'm sure it was scandalous if it was removed.

DrSmacFum

I found the Ted Christie taking over of the post merger airlines to be interesting... and it sounds like we wouldve been more Spirit than Jetblue. I found the poster to be mostly credible, but that stood out to me as odd.

Wasntme

dayom. I am baffled at how a board of a public company would not require a contingency plan before allowing the merger to move forward.

los74

If the board does not have anyone qualified, the board goes shopping for CEOs. It seems the board operates just like B6s line ops. Only time will tell what kind of CEO Joanna will be, I am not confident B6 management knows what they are doing. The most logical thing would be to bring an experienced airline CEO with a reputable record from the outside and flush everyone from the old guard if there was ever a guard.