SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 18, 2008 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Virgin America, the California-based airline on a mission to make flying good again, today announced it will add more flights to and from Washington, Dulles (IAD) to meet the rise in demand for travel to the presidential inaugural activities the week of January 20, 2009. In the spirit of the season, Virgin America is also sponsoring students from the KIPP Academy of Opportunity in South Los Angeles for a once-in-a-lifetime journey to visit the nation's capital for the inaugural week festivities.
"The impact of this year's presidential election is reflected in the number of people traveling from the West Coast to Washington DC to participate in the inaugural week festivities," said Virgin America Vice President of Planning and Sales Diana Walke. "In response to the surge in demand, we will be offering more daily West Coast flights to Washington Dulles."
The airline will operate three additional roundtrips from San Francisco International Airport (SFO) and Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) to Washington Dulles (IAD) from Jan. 16-Jan. 23, 2009. The flights will operate on new Airbus A320s which will allow for a 23% increase in seats available to guests that week.
"As a California airline known for thinking differently, we've been a supporter of the San Francisco-based KIPP schools' innovative, successful model. We couldn't be more pleased to make this once-in-a-lifetime visit possible for their students -- and to help bring the next big thinkers to DC for this historic inauguration."
Virgin America is an ongoing supporter of the KIPP Knowledge is Power Program, which operates a network of free, open-enrollment, college-prep public schools in under-resourced communities. During their DC visit, the students will experience inaugural week events, tour monuments and museums, and visit local colleges.
Launched in August 2007, the carrier has won a list of travel industry awards, including top honors last month as "Best Domestic Airline" in Conde Nast Traveler's 2008 Readers' Choice Awards (based on a survey of over 30,000 travelers) and in July, "Best Domestic Airline" in Travel + Leisure World's Best Awards. This past month, Virgin America was ranked as the "most on-time" airline among domestic carriers by FlightStats.com. Virgin America offers guests amenities unrivalled in the U.S. skies, including power outlets at every seat, moodlighting, custom-designed leather seats, and the most advanced in-flight entertainment in the U.S.
Virgin America currently operates daily flights from SFO to LAX, SFO to JFK, SFO to SAN, SFO to IAD, SFO to LAS, SFO to SEA, LAX to JFK, LAX to IAD, LAX to SEA and non-stop JFK to LAS.
EDITORS NOTE: Virgin America is a U.S.-controlled and operated airline and an entirely separate company from Virgin Atlantic. Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group is a minority share investor in Virgin America.
About Virgin America: Launched in August 2007, Virgin America is a California-based airline that offers guests attractive fares and a host of innovative features aimed at reinventing air travel. Virgin America's base of operations is San Francisco International Airport's ultra-modern and convenient International Terminal. The airline's new Airbus A320-family aircraft offer interactive in-flight entertainment systems and power outlets for electronic gear. In October 2008, Virgin America was named "Best Domestic Airline in the Conde Nast Traveler Readers' Choice Awards. In July 2008, Virgin America was named "Best Domestic Airline" in Travel + Leisure World's Best Awards. This past month, Virgin America was ranked as the "most on-time" airline among domestic carriers by FlightStats.com. To learn more: www.virginamerica.com
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About KIPP
KIPP has grown from two original schools founded by Teach For America alumni Mike Feinberg and Dave Levin to a national network of free, open-enrollment, college-preparatory public charter schools. KIPP has been widely recognized for putting underserved students on the path to college. The success of KIPP has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, and on ABC News and The Oprah Winfrey Show. For more information, visit: www.kipp.org.
About FlightStats: FlightStats is an airline, airport, and travel information service provided by Conducive Technology Corp. On our Web site (www.flightstats.com) visitors can get flight status, view on-time performance ratings by flight or by airline, check for current airport delay and weather information, and much more. All services are free to site visitors and many services are available as widgets for installation on other web sites or personalized home pages such as iGoogle and Microsoft Live. FlightStats provides global flight status information and is the definitive source for historical airline performance data. Conducive Technology is also a leading supplier of air travel information services to travel agencies, logistics professionals, airlines, airports and industry analysts through software services and application programming interfaces (APIs).