Virgin America Adds Newark Links from US West Coast

US carrier Virgin America is to bring its low-fare, upscale service to the New Jersey market after it revealed plans to launch its first flights to Newark Liberty International Airport. The airline will introduce three daily flights from both Los Angeles and San Francisco from April 2, 2013, significantly increasing competition on the routes and in the wider trans-border market between the US East and West coasts.

Headquartered in California, Virgin America has already built a strong following of bi-coastal flyers with its non-stop flights from both Los Angeles and San Francisco to New York’s John F Kennedy International. These commenced in August 2007 and the carrier last year accounted for 19 per cent of the estimated 2.45 million O&D passengers between Los Angeles and New York and 20 per cent of the 1.73 million O&D passengers between San Francisco and New York. This market share grew to 23 per cent on the Los Angeles route and 20 per cent on the San Francisco link during the first nine months of 2012.

Virgin America currently competes with American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, JetBlue Airways and United Airlines on the flights between New York JFK and the US West Coast. Its new services to Newark Liberty International will place it in direct competition with American Airlines and United Airlines on the Los Angeles route and just United Airlines on the San Francisco link.

“As a low-fare carrier with new planes that look like nothing else in the skies, we hope our flights can offer some healthy competition and a better choice for travelers,” said David Cush, president and chief executive officer, Virgin America. “Just like in any industry, when more companies compete — consumers win. This is a hugely important market and one that deserves more flight options. We are thankful to the Port Authority and the local leaders who were instrumental in making this happen and who had the vision to increase air service options at Newark.”

In 2011 an estimated 705,000 O&D passengers travelled between Los Angeles and Newark and approximately 700,000 between San Francisco and Newark. This represents a 0.9 per cent and 1.0 per cent decline over the previous year, respectively. Alongside the point-to-point traffic, Virgin America will also offer Newark passengers connection opportunities to Las Vegas, Portland, Seattle, Palm Springs, San Diego and Los Cabos.

The arrival of Virgin America will result in a 21.4 per cent increase in seat capacity between Los Angeles and Newark in May 2013 and a 21.8 per cent growth in available seats on the San Francisco – Newark route the same month. The low-fare carrier will have a 17.6 per cent and 17.9 per cent share of capacity on these two routes. “We couldn’t be more pleased to welcome more new flight options to Newark Airport. More air service is a strong driver of regional economic development and jobs,” added Susan Baer, the Port Authority’s aviation director.

The addition of Newark to its network means Virgin America will now serve nine of the top ten business markets from San Francisco and eight of the top ten business markets from Los Angeles. In the table below we highlight the top markets for Virgin America this year by seat capacity and how this has compares with the previous year.