Virgin fuels fare war between U.S. airlines

[JetFumes]

Go SWA!

 

[UALjan15]

Low fare pilots enjoy descent compensation

Nice Freudian slip!!

 

[BigMeat]

If you folks VA is the same as Airtran Southwest even ********************ty Skybus you are sorely wrong. When Branson finally gets his web of airlines to connect around the world (thats the dream) you will see an affect on everyone everywhere international and domestic. Virgin Atlantic will fly people in and out international connecting to Virgin America. Add this along with European Skies Agreement, plus Virgins sister company in places like Australia and Africa. You have found a loophole in our cabatoge laws. Dont be stupid. Why do you think he wants to grow so fast in our slowly recovering market. There is a reason why all the airlines are throwing down so much money to combat them. Not only this but they are willing to fly for RJ pay. This is at a time when most of our contracts are coming up. They will not only be averaged in but management will use they excuse that they will need more money for competition. VA should be an illegall foriegn owned company. I hated Bush (cabotage lover) before but I really hate him now.

 

[LeonPhelps]

Don't know for sure, but can only imagine that Virgin is not hedged on fuel very deeply, if at all...so, I suspect that even though they are paying their crews RJ pay, that they might not want to go to far with a fare war in the short term, because they have to cover fuel prices that a lot of other airlines aren't having to pay as much for. But, I'm just gonna sit back with my bottle of courvossier and watch this thing unfold. Cheers!

 

[sluggo]

Virgin is in business to take over market share from Southwest and UAL. Virgin is going to cripple them...

 

[Andy]

Virgin is in business to take over market share from Southwest and UAL. Virgin is going to cripple them...

Virgin has the resources to hang in for a very long time. They'll be a problem for a very long time. And not just for a few US airlines; it'll be a problem for every US airline.
Hopefully, they'll kill off skybus.

 

[BigMeat]

Skybus is the last of our problems compared to VA. The problem is that VA will be subsidized by the rest of Bransons companies. Companies like T-mobile, Virgin records, Virgin Atlantic etc.

 

[bpapaDC8]

How can I get approval for my new low cost airline? I'll have Chinese and Indian Nationals as pilots flying for one tenth what we make here and they will be happy about it. Round up some young illegal flight attendants from the Far East. I can change them over when they reach age 25. A great travel experience for all involved!!

All seats free every flight. Just pay for the cushion...

 

[Hutchman]

Skybus is the last of our problems compared to VA. The problem is that VA will be subsidized by the rest of Bransons companies. Companies like T-mobile, Virgin records, Virgin Atlantic etc.

Branson sold Virgin records to keep his airline running a while back, that is what made him a billionaire.

 

[Andy]

Skybus is the last of our problems compared to VA. The problem is that VA will be subsidized by the rest of Bransons companies. Companies like T-mobile, Virgin records, Virgin Atlantic etc.

You're preaching to the choir there.

Skybus had around $175 mil in financing, so they'll last for a few years.
It'll be interesting to see how long it takes the traveling public to get sick of being jammed on a 319 (150 seats!) and having to layover in Columbus, OH overnight because they've missed their single daily connection. Ah, who am I kidding? They'll be able to find plenty of people who don't want to pay more than $50 to fly transcon.
Get ready for more airline paycuts to compete.