Virgin may scrap Chicago services planned

Virgin America has not yet been able to lease gates at Chicago’s O’Hare airport from other airlines, and has indicated that it will soon make a decision as to whether it will drop its plans to introduce service in the Chicago market.

“I’m guessing we’re a couple of weeks away from making a tough decision,” David Cush, the president and chief executive of San Francisco-based Virgin America said in an interview with the Tribune.

If Virgin does scrap its Chicago plans, this would cap a series of problems the carrier has encountered in its attempt to be the first budget carrier to directly challenge American and United airlines on routes to the west coast business centers of Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Chicago city officials have commented that they are attempting to broker a deal for Virgin America. “We continue to hold discussions with the airline about gate options,” a spokeswoman for the city’s aviation department, Karen Pride, said.

The airline executive added: “There is a solution to this problem. I just don’t know how we get there.”

Virgin America’s first mid-continent destination was meant to be Chicago, which would permit its passengers to connect to transatlantic services offered by its sister company, Virgin Atlantic.

The setup at O’Hare, in which airlines have long-term leases on their gates, has stymied Virgin’s plans. The gate leases don’t expire until 2018.

Thanks to www.chicagotribune.com for the above quotes, for more information on this article please visit their website.

www.virginamerica.com