NEW YORK -- Virgin America Inc., the low-cost airline partly backed and fully branded by British entrepreneur Richard Branson, launched Wednesday with a splash of publicity, but found its first flight delayed by a midsummer New York storm.
The delay was a timely reminder for the new airline —- which offers leather seats, mood lighting, entertainment systems, first-class seating and low fares on point-to-point flights — that the U.S. domestic market is fraught with difficulties.
"The American airline industry is abysmal," said Virgin Group founder Branson at an event at New York's John F. Kennedy Airport before passengers boarded the first flight. "The reason they go bust is they don't offer any service to the customer."
U.S. carriers such as Delta Air Lines Inc. and Northwest Airlines Corp. have only just emerged from lengthy restructurings in bankruptcy as they cut costs in order to deal with higher fuel prices and tougher competition.
Unfortunately for Branson, Virgin America's first flight missed its 9:59 a.m. departure time after a massive downpour hit New York's eastern suburbs.
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Like JetBlue Airways Corp. seven years ago, San Francisco-based Virgin America is accenting hip customer service on flights aboard new Airbus A320 aircraft in an attempt to build loyalty in an industry with sharply deteriorating reliability and customer satisfaction.
"We'd love to be able to fly most Americans to most major cities," said Branson before the first flight, promising rapid expansion of the new airline, which he said would ultimately operate a fleet of 100 planes.
Virgin America spent nearly two years under regulatory scrutiny and won approval to operate from the Transportation Department only after promising to restructure its ownership and board, and distance itself from Branson's Virgin Group, which runs Virgin Atlantic Airways PLC.
Several U.S.-based carriers and unions opposed Virgin America's entrance on grounds that Branson would control the company in violation of a U.S. law that limits control of airlines to U.S. citizens. Virgin Group holds a minority stake in the company, which the law permits.
Transportation authorities worried that Virgin America Chief Executive Fred Reid, a veteran U.S. and international airline executive, was too close to Branson and overseas interests and insisted he be replaced within months after Virgin America's inaugural flight.
Reid didn't make it to the media event before the flight because of the bad weather.
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