November 29, 2008

Virgin America

Harry was right!!! Upon the annoucement of Direct Air to ORH, Harry was excited about the fact that Direct Air leased planes from Virgin America. His theory was that this would be a great way to show Virgin America our airport. By the way Harry has maintained for two years that a European based airline may be interested in an airport like ORH.

Today I was checking on the status of a flight today and typed in Direct Air as the airline, it did not work. You actually have to type Virgin America and it dawned on me --Harry was right!! For all practical purposes it is Virgin American servicing ORH in a Direct Air wrapper.

Now lets for a second assume that Virgin America likes ORH. We need to get Sir Richard Branson on the phone and discuss with him the possibilities of leasing ORH long term to Virgin America and making this a base of operations.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Amen Brotha, Randell! Now Harry "Nostra"Tembenis , Nostradamus' long lost (non)prophet cousin will elaborate more...

Take a look at Virgin America's flight routes:

http://www.virginamerica.com/va/infoDeskRouteMap.do

The only 2 'traditional' Virgin America routes are New York (JFK) and Washington , DC (Dulles). Granted Direct Air leases VA crew and aircraft for their routes, too but if the leisure traveler over the next few months can keep the Direct Air flights at 80% or better capacity, then it behooves City Manager Mike O'Brien or Julie Jacobsen to lure Virgin America here in a 'traditional' sense to accomodate B-U-S-I-N-E-S-S travelers flights to JFK and Dulles. Thich they can then connect ANYWHERE in the USA and World from.

BTW, JD Power ranks Virgin America as #1 in customer satisfaction so C'mon Worcester, let's not let this golden opportunity slip by!

Harry T
Worcester, MA


PS

An ORH to Chicago (O'Hare) route is just begging to be filled, too!

Anonymous said...

More food for thought...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrQfFnRjjOY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jN6zg98r14E&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_fv_hw3rUM&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qng59UIVPxU&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQ8zqVJbEE4&feature=related

Harry T
Worcester, MA

Anonymous said...

Fat chance for ORH to O'Hare. Try getting gates. Jet Blue failed miserably, and brand U and brand A will never give any room for other new comers. Like the idea of Dulles and JFK tag on's tho' good for the local business market, and good connections for beyond travelers.
Rob

Anonymous said...

...and 1 other point... let's not forget... Southwest Airlines MADE TF Green and Manchester work, not the legacy carriers ...they had to be pried away from Logan to those airports due to Southwest's success. The same can be achieved in Worcester if we were to officially...pardon the pun ...land Virgin America.

Harry T
Worcester, MA

Anonymous said...

...ok , I admit O'Hare is a stretch... but Chicago Midway is still a possibility...especially since they are RFPing their airport.

Also Virgin Atlantic (who is in O'Hare) could share their gates with their sister airline, Virgin America ... just thinking outside the box...



Harry T
Worcester, MA

Bill Randell said...

silly bloggers

Anonymous said...

Here's a concept. O'Hare's a lock with UA and AA, Do we think SW will allow another carrier to play in their sandbox (Midway)? Why not Gary, Rockford, or Milwaukee? Fringe airports supporting other fringe airports.

I'd love to know what Virgin America's real model is and if ORH could play a serious role in it.
Rob

Anonymous said...

I up to Worcester last week on Direct Air and was supposed to fly back tonight. Tonight's flight was cancelled due to poor weather along the east coast. I'm very impressed. The plane was beautiful, it was clean, roomy and was a comfortable flight. It took me 15 min to get from my home in Punta Cana to the airport and 15 minutes to get from Worcester airport to my daughter's house. Tonight, the flight home was cancelled until tomorrow due to weather in Florida and along the eastern seaboard. The staff at Worcester could have just told us the flight was cancelled and that we were on our own. On thier own accord, they contacted a local hotel and worked out a deal for stranded passengers...service does not get any better.

See you in Florida

Felix