Virgin America CEO Fred Reid
It was celebrations on 22 December when Virgin America completed the last formal step in the FAA airline certification review, route proving flights from San Francisco to New York. Back on 11 October there had been more parties with no less than California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger welcoming the airline”s first Airbus A320 to San Francisco International Airport. According to the Airbus website the airline has taken delivery of nine aircraft out of 19 ordered.
The bad news followed on Christmas Eve with the Department of Transportation saying Virgin America did not meet the US strict ownership rules which many believe to be a restriction of free trade, itself a fundamental American right. In its ruling the government agency said that Virgin America fails to meet a requirement that the president and two-thirds of the board of directors be Americans and suggested that its setup "indicates that the carrier is not under the actual control of US citizens."
The Virgin America response was emphatic: "The Department of Transportation”s Show Cause Order is a long awaited step in our certification process," said Virgin America spokesman Gareth Edmondson-Jones.
"While we disagree with this tentative Order, we respect the Department's decision and I intend to use the Order as a roadmap to address the issues raised and to demonstrate to the DOT that Virgin America will meet all ownership and control requirements.
"Accordingly, we plan to respond to the Department, as requested, on 10 January so that we may move forward with DOT certification, launch our airline, and bring new high-quality service and much-needed competition to the marketplace. We remain committed to getting our wings."
Commentators in the United States see a niche for the new Virgin America but point out that its arrival in the market place could have been much smoother had it chosen Seattle built Boeing aircraft rather than those from Toulouse.