Virgin America’s next destination: Orange County

Now that the dust has settled from Virgin America’s Boston route launch, it’s time to move onto the next destination: Orange County. John Wayne Airport, nestled in the Southern Los Angeles suburbs plans to receive service some time this spring.

But why Orange County? The airline already offers service to LA, a mere few miles to the north and plenty of Midwestern and Southern cities would love to entertain the airline. Well, it’s got a lot to do with strategy. Abby Lunardini, spokeswoman from Virgin America puts it as such:

As the only airline headquartered in Cali, this is an enormously important travel market for us – and the demand is certainly there even in the current economy. The Bay Area and Orange County are two of the nation’s leading innovation-based economies and are more insulated in the current economic climate. We also know that Orange County travelers are a perfect fit for our high-tech amenities and upscale service — like in-flight WiFi and touch-screen personal entertainment.”

The route is also a natural extension of our LAX-SFO routes. We’ve got really great schedules (especially for business travelers) flying into SNA.”

There you have it. We cavemen in the Midwest just don’t fit into the Virgin America model. Kidding aside, Virgin America plans to kick off the first flight in late April. As usual, we’ll be there to give you the lowdown.