Gordon Bethune
Gordon Bethune
Gordon M. Bethuneis a retired US airline executive. He was the CEO of Continental Airlines from 1994 until his retirement at the end of 2004. He currently serves on the boards of Honeywell, Sprint, Prudential Financial...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionBusinessman
Date of Birth29 August 1941
CountryUnited States of America
substitutes
The substitute for knowledge is money.
airline-business size making-money
It's not a testosterone-driven industry any longer. Success is making money, not in the size of the airline.
airplane years choices
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.
stupid stupid-people people
We're a stupid industry led by stupid people,
watches parallels expensive
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.
perfect zits difficult
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.
air alcohol sin
We tax air passengers like cigarettes and alcohol - we impose sin taxes on travellers.
educational successful metrics
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.
airplane navy stripes
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.
opera want notes
It's like telling Mozart that there are too many notes in an opera. Which one do you want us to take out?
believe successful odds
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.
want failing results
Most businesses fail because they want the right things but measure the wrong things, and they get the wrong results.
thinking world pilots
Every pilot thinks they're the best pilot in the world. I think I'm the best pilot.
girlfriend people peers
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.