David Neeleman
David Neeleman
David G. Neelemanis a Brazilian-American entrepreneur who has founded four commercial airlines, Morris Air, Westjet, JetBlue Airways and Azul Brazilian Airlines. He is also the co-owner of TAP Portugal, along with Humberto Pedrosa...
NationalityBrazilian
ProfessionBusinessman
Date of Birth16 October 1959
CountryBrazil
thinking traveler
I think there's a big market in North America [with travelers] going to Lisbon and connecting over Lisbon.
children father nine
And you've got to remember that I'm also the father of nine children.
flying helping torture
If it's torture flying one airline and [yours] is a pleasant experience, it certainly helps your revenue.
important suggestions customers
It's so important to experience what your customers are experiencing and listen to their suggestions.
smile fun people
We tried to set up a company that patterned ourselves after Southwest in all the fun, the spirit, the great people, the smile, the efficiency side of it, but we've added some extras that people aren't used to finding on Southwest.
thinking optimism feelings
I think there's new optimism in Brazil. The Olympics went well. Our demand is good. Costs are down. We're back in the black. We're feeling really good about what's going on in Brazil.
forget servant
Never, ever forget that you are a servant.
office email essentials
The Blackberry is really essential for keeping up on my emails when I'm out of the office, which is a lot.
coaches
Those wedgie seats, whatever they call them, those recliners, they're just not competitive anymore. The difference between those and a coach seat isn't that great to be able to warrant charging the amount. You need a little more space for a lie-flat, but not that much more.
people flying
People don't really look forward to flying that much. It's like they want to get to the place, but they don't look forward to the experience.
airplane abundance gates
One of the constraints on the U.S. business is the pilot shortage. There's not an abundance of pilots. There may be an abundance of cheap fuel and airplanes. There probably isn't an abundance of gates at popular airports, either.
moving opportunity thinking
I think that as the market moves and costs get higher and fares get higher, it always creates opportunity. That's been the cycle over the years.
thinking people terrorism
I think because of all of the difficulties in Europe with terrorism and stuff, a lot of people ended up going to Portugal. They felt, I think, safer in Portugal.
There's just things that are against the law.