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New Virgin America routes to be announced soon!
Rumor at 36,000-feet is that Virgin America will announce its long-delayed service to Chicago later this month, but that's not all that the low-cost airline has in store for its domestic travelers.Cush said he'll likely have some news for flight attendants later this week about new planes and new routes. While the general public will have to wait until a bit later this year, in-flight sources suggest to me that Dallas, Orlando and Atlanta might be the next target cities.
But here's the best news from my main cabin seat: Cush told us that Virgin America is considering service to Canada saying, "We certainly plan on expanding to Canada at some point (maybe sooner rather than later) and are very excited about it."
No clues yet on which city the airline will service, but among the strongest Canadian candidates, our money is on either Toronto or Whitehorse.
Gallery: Virgin America's Fly Girls Preview
Before you go, be sure to check out Episode 4 of Gadling's Travel Talk TV, which features good and bad pilots, Holi, and a sofa in an aquarium!
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Scott Carmichael Mar 10th 2010 9:27AM
Service from Chicago would really make me happy.
Cynthia Mar 10th 2010 9:43AM
Oh wow--Whitehorse? Haven't heard that yet. When I talked to him, he was alllll about Austin and Toronto, of course. http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/12/11/121423/70/travel/What+To+Expect+From+Virgin+America+In+2010+%3A%3A+We+Chat+With+CEO+David+Cush
Paul Mar 10th 2010 10:35AM
Melanie,
Lets see for ORD...T1 with UA..never. T2 with DL, US...probably not. T3 with AA...unlikely.
VirginAmerica will have a tough time considering the only domestic gates available at ORD are the old Delta gates ("L" at the end) concourse that Spirit and Air One Choice are currently using.
T5 is a common use facility, but I don't see them paying the rates and charges that go with using it.
Whit Mar 10th 2010 1:00PM
Man, I just bought tickets to Orlando on another airline for a summer vacation. I would have flown Virgin America in a heartbeat.
attathomeguy Mar 10th 2010 1:10PM
Paul,
I dont know why you think Virgin America could only land at domestic gates? Virgin America lands at LAS in the new international terminal and so do other domestic carriers so I would think they can do this at ORD also this is how Jetblue and Virgin America fly out of SFO.
Chris Mar 10th 2010 1:10PM
Whitehorse - Is that a joke?
Americans have a terrible understanding of Canadian geography.
Kent Wien Mar 10th 2010 4:01PM
I think she's kidding around about Whitehorse.
Because everyone knows Virgin America has been trying for months to get some gate space at Tuktoyaktuk.
MeMimio Mar 10th 2010 1:38PM
it's going to be Vancouver - Virgin has many people from that city fighting for that one.
Pete Mar 10th 2010 3:47PM
Everytime I have flown Virgin America, THEY ARE LATE! Never on time! F/C leathers seats had crayon all over the seats! NOTHING SPECIAL!!
Eric Mar 10th 2010 4:13PM
Virgin America would be better served if they set up a hub in the Midwest...the best place for them to do it is St. Louis. That city desperately needs a hub airline to generate new business...it's been practically abandoned by American Airlines, Southwest and the other airlines don't provide enough flights to make up for the nearly 400 flights American has cut since 2003.
If they are to go to Chicago, they would be better off serving Midway instead of O'Hare. There's plenty of space at MDW (due to the shutdown of American Trans Air) and it's just eight miles from the Loop (O'Hare is 22 miles from downtown Chicago). Another route they should look at is St. Louis-Kansas City (which is monopolized by Southwest) and even seasonal service into Branson (which is only served by AirTran and Republic's Frontier unit).
ellenkitty Mar 10th 2010 4:28PM
Oh wow, new routes for Virgin America, my new favorite airline. What about Philadelphia? For a major East coast city, it's amazingly hard tpo get to from the West coast.
hawkins235000 Mar 10th 2010 6:33PM
I would love to fly from San Francisco to Philadelphia on Virgin America.
Melanie Nayer Mar 10th 2010 4:36PM
We should know very soon what the new routes will be. I think Chicago, Dallas and possibly Atlanta. And yes, I was joking about Whitehorse - so much for a career as a stand-up comic.
Monty Mar 10th 2010 6:45PM
Good possibilities: ORD/DFW/MCO/ATL/YYZ/YVR/AUS as all generate good, moderate yield traffic to/from California. Use ORD int'l term with V Atlantic.
Less likely: PHL due to congestion/ STL Sm/med hub maybe...lg hub NO also due to congestion.
All of this will take time.......be patient!!
Kat Mar 10th 2010 7:25PM
Come to Cincinnati Delta is slowly deserting us
Darren Mar 10th 2010 6:01PM
Wow... that Whitehorse joke just made you look ignorant.
Where do you think YYZ serivce would originate? SFO? How about YVR?
Grant Martin Mar 10th 2010 9:39PM
Our inside source at Virgin says service from San Francisco to Whitehorse will be on a dogsled pulled by CEO David Cush himself.
We're joking. Our reference to Whitehorse is a small shout-out to our friend Eva Holland from Worldhum who happens to live in the tiny, Canadian town. Obviously Virgin isn't going to fly there.
Sanders Mar 10th 2010 7:28PM
The World's Busiest Airport NEEDS Virgin America - come on VA come on and rock the ATL!
Kev Mar 11th 2010 2:15PM
In Las Vegas, Virgin America (VX) uses Terminal 1 Concourse B, not the international terminal. Virgin Atlantic (VS) comes into Terminal 2 as do other international and Hawaiian flights. I used to work for US Air til last month and can't wait for Virgin to expand. Would love working for Virgin America.
Jay Mar 12th 2010 10:25PM
Living in Vancouver and Following Virgin America from Day one I would hope YVR would be Included in that expansion, then I dont have to drive all the way to Seattle to Catch a VX flight, I got very excited the day I seen a Redwood A320 at YVR only to later be disapointed to find it was only a charter flight :(
But still if YVR is not on the list of expansion citys I will still make the 2 hour drive to SEA to fly Virgin America!