Gordon Bethune Quotes

Do you know how much faster I can fix an airplane when I want to fix it than when I don't want to fix it?

But I like to think that a lot of managers and executives trying to solve problems miss the forest for the trees by forgetting to look at their people -- not at how much more they can get from their people or how they can more effectively manage their people. I think they need to look a little more closely at what it's like for their people to come to work there every day.

You don't lie to your own doctor. You don't lie to your own attorney, and you don't lie to your employees.

Somebody who knows what they're doing, who has a good track record, they come across as very articulate, bright and looking for a challenge - that's absolutely my kind of hire.

The airline business is the biggest team sport in the world. When you're all consumed with fighting among yourselves, your opponents can run over you every day.

I've spent my life as an airplane mechanic, pilot, aircraft manufacturer and airline CEO who never lost a life or an airplane. I am considerate of the risk we take every time we fly. I also know we need to fly and always to improve safety.

It's the old adage: You can make a pizza so cheap, nobody will eat it. You can make an airline so cheap, nobody will fly it.

Watches are the only jewelry men can wear, unless you're Mr. T.

It all sounds almost silly, but the fact is that the only way to change a corporate culture is to just change it.

It's not about market share. If you have a successful company, you will get your market share. But to get a successful company, what do you have to have? The same metrics of success that your customer does.

It really helps to know what success is before you get there, and if you know, then you can head right for it. For some people, it's the most money. For some, it's the most power. For some, it's the most girlfriends. Everybody's got a measure. For me, I guess it's having the respect and admiration of your peers.

I don't think JetBlue has a better chance of being profitable than 100 other predecessors with new airplanes, new employees, low fares, all touchy-feely ... all of them are losers. Most of these guys are smoking ragweed.

Since 1978 the record pretty well shows that no start-up airline . . . has really been successful, so the odds of JetBlue having long-term success are remote. I'm not going to say it can't happen because stranger things have happened, but I personally believe P.T. Barnum was, in that respect, correct.

Most businesses fail because they want the right things but measure the wrong things, and they get the wrong results.

If you say three things in a row that make sense, people will vote for you.

Every pilot thinks they're the best pilot in the world. I think I'm the best pilot.

There are a lot of parallels between what we're doing and an expensive watch. It's very complex, has a lot of parts and it only has value when it's predictable and reliable.

The point is... you'd better figure out what your Customers - the Customers you want - value. Because that's what they'll buy. Anything else is a waste of their money, and they'll figure that out in a hurry.

I was a mechanic in the Navy. And mechanics in the Navy are like mechanics in airlines. You may have more stripes than I do, but you don't know how to fix the airplane.

It's difficult to have everybody like everything you do. I don't know anybody that's perfect and doesn't have a zit somewhere.

We tax air passengers like cigarettes and alcohol - we impose sin taxes on travellers.

It's like telling Mozart that there are too many notes in an opera. Which one do you want us to take out?

In airplanes you have a choice between chocolate and vanilla. One year could be vanilla or it could be chocolate. I don't attach any relevance to which one.

We're a stupid industry led by stupid people.

It's not a testosterone-driven industry any longer. Success is making money, not in the size of the airline.

The substitute for knowledge is money.

A bankruptcy judge can fix your balance sheet, but he cannot fix your company.

No one is going to stick their head out of the trenches for someone they don't respect or trust. You can get shot doing that.

You have to begin to put the infrastructure in place to put in high-speed trains...It should be a national priority. If the French can do it, why cant we?

The first step to problem solving is figuring out who's got the problem.

You're only as good as your dumbest competitor.

Whether I'm at the hangar or at the airport or on an airplane, I get respect. And that's the best part of my day.