The History:
Do you remember the day when people would dress up to fly on a commercial airline flight? Do you remember when a majority of the population could not afford to fly more than once a year? Those questions pertain to each generational era of airline travel. Between 1940 to 1970′s-80′s, most people dressed up to fly. Back then flying was considering a luxury, but now it’s the standard way of travel. During the 1970s a new airline emerged – an airline that offered cheap point-to-point service: Southwest Airlines. Low-cost carriers re-invented the entire airline industry. Southwest Airlines bundled great service and low-cost flights into an entire package. The Southwest low-cost carrier (LCC) revolution still lasts today. Legacy carriers have lowered their prices to compete with the various low-cost carriers that inhabit the airline industry. Yet, I think a new type of airline is starting to emerge; one that re-invents the travel experience while still maintaining low-cost fares. I’m talking about no other than Virgin America.
Why Virgin America?
The Southwest Airlines idea was introduced into other markets, notably by RyanAir in Europe. For years foreign carriers took what was emerging in the United States, and implemented it into their airlines. I think it could be said that American airlines are the standard of air travel. However, Virgin America put a reverse view on the industry – perhaps what is standard within American airlines does not necessarily have to be the way that ‘we’ do business. Rather Virgin America saw what foreign carriers, like Singapore Airlines, had in their travel experience, and implemented it into their airline. (I’m not saying this is necessarily how things happened).
As far as in-flight entertainment and travel experience, Virgin America offers the best out of all American airlines. For example, they: are the first U.S. airline to offer mood lighting, offer 3000 MP3s on-board each flight, 110v power is available at every seat, they have an innovative in-flight entertainment system installed for each passenger (called “Red”), they use the cashless cabin. Whether you travel first-class or economy, both seats are very comfortable.
Red:
Red is Virgin America’s in-flight entertainment system. The system has three functions: watch, listen, and talk. “Watch” allows you to view: satellite TV offered by the Dish Network, 25 pay-per-view Hollywood movies. “Listen” allows you to: create your own playlist of songs to listen to on-board, listen to 20 streaming radio channels. The “talk” function allows you to chat with passengers on-board your flight, and send text-messages and emails. The system also has games and has a “read” function.
Perhaps the coolest part of Red is the eating and shopping you can do. You can simply place orders for a drink or for food using Red, and pay for it using the credit card swiper underneath the screen. The shop feature allows you make purchases on products while airborne.
Red features a unique keyboard / remote all bundled into one device. The entertainment system also allows travelers to connect their own keyboard to Red. Other features include USB connection and Ethernet.
The Destinations:
Currently Virgin America only serves 7 cities, including: San Francisco (hub), Seattle, Los Angeles, San Diego, Las Vegas, New York JFK, and Washington DC-Dulles. The airline does have plans for expansion, and will begin serving Chicago O’Hare from San Francisco and Los Angeles.
The Fleet:
Virgin America is an all airbus A32X class airline. As of August 2008, they had a 25 aircraft fleet consisting of 8 Airbus A319s and 16 Airbus A320s. They have leased aircraft to TAM and the defunct SkyBus Airlines. They have orders for 12 additional aircraft.
The Future:
I am very confident that Virgin America will see nothing but success in the forthcoming years. They have already distinguished themselves as a leader in inflight entertainment and overall travel experience. Their low-cost and high quality base will surely propel the airline to the top if they can manage to churn up profits and outweigh the many start-up costs associated with new airlines.
Images: 1. flickr.com, 2. flickr.com, 3. flickr.com
