Virgin America
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| Virgin America | ||
|---|---|---|
| IATA VX | ICAO VUS |
Callsign n/a |
| Founded | 2004 | <tr><th colspan="2">Hubs</th><td>San Francisco International|
| Fleet size | 9 as of October 2006<ref name="airbus_deliveries">Airbus Orders and Deliveries. Set "Customer" to "Virgin America" and see the "Aircraft in Operation" figure.</ref> (34 planned) | |
| Destinations | New York City/JFK Los Angeles San Francisco | |
| Headquarters | Burlingame, California | |
| Key people | Fred Reid (CEO) Donald J. Carty (Chairman) | |
| Website: http://www.virginamerica.com/ | ||
Virgin America is a new U.S. airline that expects to begin flying in early 2007. The airline will aim to provide low-cost, high-quality service.
San Francisco International Airport will be Virgin America's principal base of operations. Although the airline has not announced specific details, CEO Fred Reid has said that the first route will be San Francisco (SFO) to New York City — most likely John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK). Reid has also said that the initial focus will be on "long-haul point-to-point service between major metropolitan cities on the Eastern and West Coast seaboards".<ref name="sfc_20060319">"On the Record: Fred Reid," The San Francisco Chronicle, March 19, 2006.</ref> Virgin America has expressed an interest in some of the gates at Washington's Dulles International Airport vacated by the now-defunct Independence Air, though some of these gates are now in use by United Airlines' regional service United Express. Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport has also been mentioned as a possible destination.
CEO Fred Reid is the former president of Delta Air Lines. Donald J. Carty, former head of American Airlines parent AMR Corporation and Chairman of Porter Airlines, will also serve as Chairman of Virgin America.<ref name="carty_hired_to_virgin">"Virgin America Appoints Donald J. Carty Chairman of its Board of Directors," Virgin America press release, February 6 2006.</ref>
Virgin America, though the brainchild of British entrepreneur Richard Branson (Virgin Group), will be a U.S. airline. By law, a U.S. airline must be owned by a majority of U.S. citizens and must be under the "actual control" of U.S. citizens;<ref>See "Actual Control of U.S. Air Carriers" (Supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking), 71 FR 26425, May 5 2006.</ref> Virgin America will meet these requirements. VAI Partners LLC will own 75% of the capital stock and will appoint two-thirds of the voting members of the board of directors. Virgin America is separate from Virgin Atlantic and as such is under no obligation to work with Virgin Atlantic, Virgin Blue, Virgin Express, Virgin Nigeria or other companies that share the Virgin brand name.
It is thought that Virgin America will compete with United Airlines and American Airlines (legacy carriers that provide significant long-haul domestic service from San Francisco) and to a lesser extent with Southwest Airlines and JetBlue Airways (low-cost carriers that serve the nearby Oakland and San Jose airports). Virgin America is likely to implement a customer loyalty program (frequent-flyer program).
Virgin America is also soliciting the public's help to name their airplanes; <ref>see www.nameourplanes.com</ref> On October 11, 2006, the first airplane was christened Jefferson Airplane after the San Francisco band. Former lead singer Grace Slick christened the plane along with San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Contents |
[edit] History
In early 2004, Virgin Group announced its intent to start a new, U.S.-based low-fare airline it was calling "Virgin USA." After considering Boston, Washington, D.C., New York and San Francisco as headquarters for the new airline, it announced on June 4 2004, that its flight operations center would be located at San Francisco International Airport and its corporate headquarters would be located in New York City.<ref name="sfc_20040605">"SFO Lands New Carrier Virgin USA — 1,500 Jobs; Airline Sets Sights On Low-fare Market; Corporate Center To Be Based In N.Y.," The San Francisco Chronicle, June 5 2004.</ref> At the time, Virgin USA expected to be flying by mid-2005.
On June 16 2004, the airline was officially named "Virgin America." It also announced its U.S. management team and that its fleet would consist of Airbus planes.<ref name="sfc_20040616">"Virgin To Buy Airbus Airplanes; Branson Names Carrier; Executive Lineup Announced," The San Francisco Chronicle, June 16 2004.</ref> Although plans seemed to be moving along well, the new airline had trouble finding U.S. investors willing to gamble on a new airline, given the state of the U.S. airline industry. Virgin America announced in April 2005 that it was delaying its first flights until 2006 at the earliest.<ref name="sfc_20050409">"Start Of Virgin America Delayed; Branson's Airline Apparently Needs More Investors," The San Francisco Chronicle, April 9 2005.</ref>
On December 8, 2005, Virgin America announced that it had secured $177.3 million in funding and submitted the required U.S. DOT certificate application. The company also announced that its headquarters would be moved from New York City to Burlingame, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area and that regulatory approval would take from six to 12 months.<ref name="sfc_20051209">"Taking To The Air: Low-fare Startup Virgin America Says It Has The Funding To fly," The San Francisco Chronicle, December 9 2005.</ref>
On January 19, 2006, Virgin America filed its safety and maintenance plan application with the Federal Aviation Administration.
On July 13, 2006, the U.S. Department of Transportation said Virgin America's application to begin flights was almost complete, meaning that a ruling by the DOT is not far away. August 2, 2006, was the deadline for supporters and opponents to submit comments and August 16, 2006, was the deadline for Virgin America to respond.<ref name="sfbt_20061307">"Virgin America crosses important approval threshold," San Fransisco Business Times, July 13 2006.</ref>
On September 14, 2006, Dave Pflieger was appointed as general counsel of the airline.
[edit] Support and opposition
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has recently voiced his support for the new airline by asking for a swift review of its application. The Governor notes that Virgin America will create as many as 1,700 jobs in the San Francisco Bay Area.<ref name="governor-letter">Letter from California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to Deputy U.S. Secretary of Transportation, April 20 2006.</ref>
Additional support for the airline has come from the mayors of several Bay Area cities, California state representatives, Bay Area businesses and business leaders, and several airport authorities including New York/New Jersey, Las Vegas, Denver, Orlando, Miami, Dallas/Fort Worth and San Francisco.
Virgin America plans to create as many as 3,000 jobs throughout the U.S. However, through the efforts of some national aviation labor unions (chiefly the Air Line Pilots Association) and U.S.-based "legacy" airlines (led by Houston-based Continental Airlines) the review of Virgin America's DOT certificate application has been prolonged. The opponents' strategy is to try to block or delay approval by claiming that Virgin America will not be under U.S. ownership or control. By filing motions that Virgin America's responses to inquiry are not sufficient to prove that the airline is a "U.S. citizen," the application opponents urge the DOT to require Virgin America to produce additional documentation.<ref name="virgin-certificate-docket">See "Virgin America Inc. - Certificate - Interstate Scheduled Air Transportation", U.S. DOT Docket OST-2005-23307.</ref>
[edit] Fleet
The company has announced that its fleet will consist of 34 Airbus A319 and A320-214 airliners (18 purchased, 15 leased) that will bear the Virgin logo.<ref name="sfc_20040605">filler</ref> Virgin America received their first A320 on February 24 2006. Because the airline is awaiting regulatory approvals, the aircraft will not yet enter passenger service.
Virgin America's in-flight experience will include: the largest seatback TVs of any U.S. airline, free television shows and a small selection of free games (customers will have to pay for movies and a larger selection of video games), an assortment of food items (some of which will be free), at least 32 inches of legroom, and modern, 1.5-inch-thick seats manufactured by Recaro.<ref name="sfc_20060319">filler</ref> Panasonic Avionics Corporation and other partners will supply the in-flight entertainment hardware.<ref name="panasonic_ife">"Virgin America Names Panasonic as Lead Hardware Supplier for New Airline's In-flight Entertainment", Virgin America press release, May 2 2006.</ref>
[edit] References
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[edit] External links
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