Virgin America celebrates birthday

Virgin America, the newcomer to the challenging United States commercial airline industry, has just celebrated its first birthday, after having launched its initial flights precisely a year ago, in August 2007. All those travelling on the carrier during the birthday celebrations got to enjoy a special treat onboard. The airline-based in San Francisco–handed out free cake and sparkling wine to those on flights earlier today. Virgin America’s network of destinations is still limited to only seven, but the airline is growing and it already offers some 80 departures per day.

Virgin America is a US company, even though its brand name and logo are both associated with the larger Virgin group, founded by British entrepreneur Richard Branson. Yet Branson is only a minority investor in the American company, which aimed to bring more choice and quality to the US commercial airline industry. Virgin America was the first carrier to allow passengers to order drinks and snacks any time during the flight, using a personal monitor, found at each seat.  These same monitors can be used to communicate with other passengers onboard the plane.

The California-based airline currently boasts a fleet of 24 aircraft, all of which are considered to be among the most fuel efficient in the industry and are also known to emit less carbon into the air, thus limiting the company’s negative affect on the environment.

www.virginamerica.com