British Virgin Atlantic Set to Take on U.S. Airline Industry

Filed in archive Aviation News on July 19, 2007

The British are coming! The British are coming!

Tonight, tickets on billionaire Richard Branson's Virgin America go on sale. Virgin America is an American version of the British airline Virgin Atlantic. The new airline will attempt to jazz up the U.S. airline industry by offering passengers the luxury you would expect in first-class, but at affordable prices for everyone.

The airline's inaugural flights are scheduled to take off Aug. 8 from Los Angeles and New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport and arrive at roughly the same time late that morning in San Francisco, which will serve as Virgin America's hub.

Tickets for the flights were expected to go on sale Thursday around 3 a.m. PDT through Virgin America's Web site and customer service number, 877-359-8474. A one-way ticket between Los Angeles and San Francisco will start at $44, while one-way tickets for the San Francisco-New York flights will start at $139.

Burlingame-based Virgin America also will sell tickets for flights to Las Vegas and Washington, D.C., scheduled to start in September and October.

Conceived by British billionaire Richard Branson, Virgin America is promising to shake up the U.S. airline industry by making flying a more luxurious experience at affordable prices. The airline has raised nearly $300 million from investors, led by Branson's Virgin Group, which controls the British-based Virgin Atlantic airline.

Virgin America's fleet of aircraft will include the latest high-tech equipment so passengers can order food from their seats, watch movies or television, listen to music and even plan their travel itinerary using Google Inc.'s popular online maps. Access to the maps will be built into Virgin America's entertainment system.

A first-class ticket, which will start at $149 for one-way flights between San Francisco and Los Angeles, will buy seating in a massage chair, among other amenities.

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