Virgin America (San Francisco) today announced plans to significantly expand its Dallas presence by operating new daily nonstop flights from Dallas’ Love Field (DAL) to New York’s LaGuardia Airport (LGA), Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA), Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), San Francisco International Airport (SFO) and Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD).   In addition to adding new service from Love Field to major business destinations such as New York, Washington D.C. and Chicago, the airline plans to increase flights to current destinations (San Francisco and Los Angeles) from Dallas. Virgin America is seeking to secure two Love Field gates in order to expand flight options for Dallas travelers, as the airport’s centralized location makes it a more convenient choice for Dallas-based and Dallas-destined business travelers.  If successful, the airline would move its current operations from Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) to Love Field in October 2014.  Virgin America would be the only carrier at Love Field to offer guests three classes of service, WiFi, in-seat power outlets and touch-screen seatback entertainment (including live TV) on every flight.  In addition, the airline operates a new fleet of Airbus A320-Family aircraft, which are significantly quieter than the commercial aircraft currently in use at Love Field.

Virgin America’s ability to offer these new flights to Dallas travelers is contingent on obtaining two Love Field gates that are being divested by American Airlines as part of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) settlement agreement resolving American Airline’s merger with US Airways.  As part of the merger settlement, DOJ required the divestiture of gates at several domestic airports to facilitate entry and expansion by low-cost airlines, where consumer competition could be negatively impacted by the unprecedented consolidation this latest merger represents.  Virgin America’s new flights from Dallas would provide vigorous competition in a market where at present one carrier controls 80 percent of the gates at Love Field (16 of 20 gates).  Earlier this year, Virgin America invested in divestiture assets being sold as part of the merger settlement, including 12 airport slots at LGA (six slot pairs) and eight slots at DCA (four slot pairs), both airports where legacy carriers have historically dominated operations and where consumers have suffered from lack of service competition and higher fares as a consequence.   With the planned divestiture of Love Field gates, Virgin America would be able to offer Dallascustomers a competing network of flights to large business markets from Love Field.

The Love Field plans would significantly expand Virgin America’s presence in Texas, which now consists of three daily nonstop flights from both LAX and SFO to DFW as well as its popular SFO-Austin flights.  In addition, the new routes would expand the airline’s presence in both Washington D.C. and the New York area.  The carrier will be only the second low-cost airline to serve all three major New York-area airports. Virgin America has built a loyal following of bi-coastal flyers with its nonstop flights from LAX and SFO to New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) and EWR.

Virgin America’s service to and from DAL would begin from October 2014, after the expiration of the Wright Amendment, which has restricted flights at Love Field since 1979.  The airline would plan to operate daily nonstop flights from October 2014 and would announce full schedules for the following routes should the Love Field gates be approved:

• DAL to LGA (four roundtrip flights a day).
• DAL to DCA (four roundtrip flights a day).
• DAL to LAX (three roundtrip flights a day, expanding to four in 2015).
• DAL to SFO (three roundtrip flights a day, expanding to four in 2015).

In addition, the airline would add two roundtrip flights a day from DAL to Chicago O’Hare in early 2015.

Top Copyright Photo: Michael B. Ing/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A319-112 N524VA (msn 3204) “Dark Horse” approaches the runway at Los Angeles International Airport.

Virgin America: 

Bottom Copyright Photo: Bruce Drum/AirlinersGallery.com. The move by Virgin America to offer their highly-rated services at Love Field brings back memories of short-lived Legend Airlines (please click on the photo for additional information).