Neeleman's new high-tech, low-fare airline will be based in SLC

JetBlue founder David Neeleman is starting another new airline, reports travel website Skift. And it will be based in Salt Lake City.

For now, Neeleman is calling the new carrier Moxy, but he said that probably won’t be the name when it starts flying in 2021. He said the airline will fly hundreds of routes, probably most without any nonstop competition. “I doubt we’ll have a single route that has any competition,” Neeleman said.

He knows his competitors will come hard after his proposed operation, but he’ll be ready for them. “I’ll just do stuff they can’t do,” Neeleman told Skift, adding that Brazil’s Azul, which he also founded and serves as chairman, will feed traffic to the new airline. “There are some things structurally they cannot do,” Neeleman said, referring to the competition. “Because I own Azul, Azul can handle me in Brazil. They can feed me … they can do all the stuff that they’ll never do for anyone else because I control the company.”

Neeleman said the airline’s interface with the flying public will be almost totally technology-based with booking, flight changes and check-in — even ordering meals — occurring online or by mobile device. Moxy’s technology hub will likely be based in Salt Lake City, as will many of the customer service agents, but passengers will not be able to make a phone call to them. Neeleman reminded Skift that few people ever call Amazon or Uber and the goal of his new airline is to have a fully functional app. He said the airline has plenty of time to develop it because it won’t be flying for a few years.

Neeleman said he chose Salt Lake City as a hub to take advantage of the number of well-educated moms who want to work from home.

“You don’t have to speak to us,” Neeleman said. “You won’t be able to speak to us. You’ll be able to reach out to us and you’ll be able to chat with us and we’ll call you. You won’t be able to call us because everything will be functional.” He said the airline will use chat for initial customer contacts and the agents will call the customers back to resolve issues. 

Neeleman downplayed the importance of the airline’s name in his conversation with Skift. “I could call this airline ‘crap’ and people will love it because of the way I’m going to treat them,” he said.