Virgin America to expand flights to Boston, NYC
Virgin America, a popular domestic airline with an average 12 daily flights to and from Las Vegas, will introduce seasonal service from Boston to McCarran International Airport in January.
San Francisco-based Virgin also announced Wednesday that it would expand its schedule of flights between New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport and Las Vegas from seven to nine a week that month as well.
Between Jan. 8 and April 28, Virgin will fly four times a week between Boston’s Logan International Airport and McCarran. And, between Jan. 5 and April 28, the airline will add an eighth and ninth weekly round trip between New York and Las Vegas.
Airlines often use seasonal trials to gauge whether there’s enough consumer interest to justify regular service.
The flights are part of a new seasonal strategy Virgin is trying to fly East Coast passengers to warm locations in the winter months. The airline also is inaugurating new seasonal flights between New York and Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
Virgin’s new route to Las Vegas will include Boston departures on Mondays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays and Las Vegas flights to Boston on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.
The New York expansion will add flights from New York Wednesdays and Thursdays and flights from Las Vegas Mondays and Wednesdays in addition to the current daily service.
Las Vegas was one of Virgin America’s launch cities when the airline began flying in 2007. It currently has nonstop routes to New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco from McCarran.
Virgin is the eighth busiest carrier at McCarran and flies from Terminal 3.
The airline flies to 20 cities in the United States and Mexico and will transition from Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport to Dallas’ Love Field on Oct. 13. It also will inaugurate service to New York’s LaGuardia International Airport on Oct. 28.
Virgin America is popular among consumers and has been atop numerous passenger rating polls for its comfortable amenities and attention to technology. The airline has a fleet of Airbus A319 and A320 twin-engine jets. The 149-passenger A320s are used on East Coast routes.
Contact reporter Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on Twitter.