KEY POINTS:
Sir Richard Branson joined the inaugural flight of Virgin America from New York's JFK airport yesterday, promising a new kind of low-cost airline that would alleviate some of the misery of air travel in the US - but as ever, bad weather disrupted the best laid plans.
Heavy
rain and flash floods in the area prevented many celebrities and airline executives from reaching the carefully choreographed launch party, and a planned question-and-answer session with the media had to be abandoned entirely after Fred Reid, the airline's chief executive, failed to arrive.
In the end, the first Virgin America flight finally took to the skies only a little late - unless you count more than three years of planning and regulatory delays, during which Sir Richard has had to give up a large degree of control over the project to satisfy national ownership rules.
At every turn, the existing domestic carriers have lobbied hard against the airline, saying it was effectively controlled by the Virgin Group in the UK, from whom it has licensed the ubiquitous brand name.
Virgin holds a minority stake.
Yesterday, a jubilant Sir Richard promised that Virgin America would one day be flying out of every major city in the US.
"The major carriers have fought a strong battle to try to smother Virgin America at birth, but I'm delighted to say it wasn't for smothering."
Sir Richard is pushing the Virgin brand into one of the toughest marketplaces in the world, where existing carriers seemingly rotate in and out of bankruptcy, and where service standards have been cut to the bone to offer low fares.
It is aiming to emulate the success of JetBlue, the last major low-cost carrier to launch, seven years ago, which also emphasises its customer service credentials.
Earlier this year, JetBlue sacked its founding chief executive, David Neeleman, after a debacle when passengers were trapped on the tarmac for nine hours during snowy weather.
Virgin America says it will offer both a better service, and fares as low as US$139 for the trip from New York to San Francisco, and is offering better in-seat entertainment than rivals, including live television and games, as well as laptop plugs in every seat.
It is also promising better scheduling and planes that can take off and land in tougher weather conditions.
"And in the event that you do have to spend an extra hour on the plane, you will at least be entertained," Sir Richard said.
- INDEPENDENT