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JetBlue Founder David Neeleman Selects Salt Lake City as Headquarters for New Airline

Brian Sumers

Photo Credit: David Neeleman speaks in October 2018 about his new U.S. airline startup. It will be based in Salt Lake City.  BMF Media Group

Skift Take

Utah has always been a fine place to base a regional airline. But it's an unusual spot to build what is almost certainly going to be a nationwide carrier. But with technology, founder David Neeleman is betting that where an airline is headquartered no longer matters.

America's newest and perhaps most innovative airline does not yet have a name, or any airplanes. But it now has a headquarters. David Neeleman's startup will be based in Salt Lake City, where it plans to spend a capital investment of $3.2 million and create nearly 400 jobs over the next five years, according to local authorities. In return, the state offered tax rebates worth as much as about $1.1 million over five years. "There's a super strong technology base, and lower cost of living than California and some of the coastal areas," Lukas Johnson, the airline's chief commericial said in an interview. "We want to focus more on the technology aspect of the transportation side, and it makes a lot of sense. The tech sector is booming out here." In putti

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