JetBlue bumps founder out of CEO role

0 Comments | USA TODAY, May, 2007 | by Barbara De Lollis

New York-based discounter JetBlue on Thursday replaced founder David Neeleman as its chief executive, part of a broader effort by the airline to improve operations after its Valentine's Day meltdown.

Neeleman, 47, who remains as non-executive board chairman, has been replaced by COO David Barger, 49. Relieved of his duties of running the airline, Neeleman will continue as JetBlue's "visionary," says Jenny Dervin, a JetBlue spokeswoman.

JetBlue's board of directors initiated the switch on Wednesday, and Neeleman "fully agrees with the decision," she says. Barger has been at JetBlue since the start in 1998, and Barger said he's long been Neeleman's presumed successor.

But aviation analyst Bob Mann of R.W. Mann & Co. in Port Washington, N.Y., says...