Virgin America is expanding everyday. Now they’ve announced plans to significantly expand their 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).
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 Dallas customers a competing network of flights to large business markets from Love Field.
