JetBlue Airways founder David Neeleman marched to his own cadence early in life while growing up in Utah.
His parents, Gary and Rose, recall a band concert at Peruvian Park Elementary School in Sandy with their son on drums. Providing a steady beat wasn't his only concern. He acted as the pseudo leader of the band.
"He couldn't hardly concentrate on what he was supposed to be doing because he wanted to make sure everyone else was doing the right thing," Gary Neeleman recalled.
Doing the right thing and doing it his way has made David Neeleman a maestro of the airways. His upstart, low-fare carrier is hitting all the right notes.
JetBlue and Southwest Airlines were the only profitable major airlines last year. JetBlue's profits and passenger numbers are way up so far this year. The company expects 6 million people to fly it in 2002.
Neeleman boards one of his 162-seat Airbus A320s weekly, but not to joy ride. He takes tickets at the gate and serves snacks in the cabin. He sometimes unloads luggage at the terminal. He understands the hustle it takes to get bags to the carousel in JetBlue's promised 20 minutes.
"I think it's important for our people to know I value what they do and it's not beneath me to do it," he said.
Neeleman did the same thing at Morris Air, one of four successful airlines he has launched. A friend of his father years ago watched in amazement as the young Neeleman did it all at Salt Lake City International one day, including sweep up.
"If that . . . kid is sitting in the pilot seat, I'm going home," the friend later told Neeleman's father.
Whether it was working at his paternal grandfather's Miniature Market as a youngster or as a University of Utah basketball team manager, the Brighton High School graduate found a way to make himself useful.
As a boy, he accompanied college basketball teams on exhibition trips his father arranged to Latin America.
"If they wanted a drink, he'd get them a drink. If they wanted a ball, he'd get them a ball. If they wanted more dessert, he'd get them more dessert," Gary Neeleman said.
JetBlue operates on the notion of bringing humanity back to air travel. Other airlines, David Neeleman says, act as if their "jobs would be a lot easier if they didn't have to deal with passengers all the time."
Neeleman's unfettered management style and rapid ascent atop the troubled airline industry make him a sought-after public speaker and interview. All the major news and trade publications and all the big television networks have featured him. "60 Minutes II" recently interviewed him for an upcoming piece.
Through it all, those closest to him say he remains grounded. The spoils of success haven't gone to his 42-year-old head.
Neeleman recently turned down a book offer, saying it's way too early.
Lest anyone think he always has the Midas touch, Neeleman has met failure. The travel agency he started folded when its airplane stopped flying. A pretzel business and a medical device he invested in turned out to be duds.
"When someone wants to tell me about a new idea, I get sick to my stomach," said Neeleman, who studied accounting at the U. but didn't graduate.
His only business focus, his "hyper focus" as he calls it, is JetBlue, which will expand from 31 to 36 aircraft by year's end. It currently employees 3,500 people, about 700 of whom are work-at-home ticket reservationists in Utah.
The Beehive State claims Neeleman as a local-boy-done-good, but he wasn't born in Utah. He spent his first five years in Brazil, where his father worked as a correspondent for the United Press International news wire service. The South American country, too, lauds him as a favored son.
Though he moved his wife, Vicki, and nine children to New Canaan, Conn., to run New York-based JetBlue, Neeleman maintains strong ties to Utah. He regularly escapes to Zion Ponderosa Ranch, a 10,000-acre playground on the east rim of Zion National Park his maternal grandfather bought 40 years ago as a private hunting area.
Neeleman invested millions of dollars turning the ranch into a year-round, full-service resort offering lodging, meals and outdoor recreation. He also is developing an adjacent gated, upscale vacation home community called Zion Ridge.
When he's in Salt Lake City, he always stops for a doughnut and a drink at the new Miniature Market he financially backed at 310 E. 3300 South. "It's kind of the family watering hole," he said.
Despite his estimated $150 million net worth, Neeleman remains the frugal kid whose wallet used to wear out because he would never remove the money stuffed in it. He managed to save $1,500 during a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Brazil. He still owns a 1989 Mercedes he bought used when he was "young and stupid" and vows to never buy another one. He prefers an SUV or a van.
Neeleman pays himself $200,000 a year and doesn't take stock options. And his children, ages 20 to 3, aren't in line to be heirs to his fortune. He'd rather set up a charitable foundation to let them experience the joy of helping others.
"The last thing I want to do," he said. "is screw up the next generation of Neelemans."
E-mail: romboy@desnews.com