Tech Travelers Can Now Fly Virgin from San Jose to Los Angeles

Fog won't keep this plane grounded.

Virgin America and Mineta San Jose International Airport (SJC) announced Wednesday that the airline carrier now offers four-daily flights to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). With Sir Richard Branson on hand to inaugurate this venture, the airline and airport both hope technology travelers in Santa Clara County are interested in flying out of the regional airport to Southern California on business.

"It’s an important market for us and one that we’ve been looking at for a long time," said Virgin America President and CEO David Cush. Cush noted that the entertainment industry flyer has already embraced some of the features of the airline. "But we are really focused on business travelers regardless of where they come from, entertainment or technology."

Features like Wi-Fi and power outlets on every flight should attract the tech savvy flyer. This increase in business could help stimulate the growth and significance of Santa Clara County's regional airport, officials hope. 

"Virgin is very well aligned with our travelers," said SJC Director of Aviation Bill Sherry. "It's a high tech, sophisticated airline and that’s exactly what travelers are. The match couldn’t be better."

He also touted the fact that SJC has "virtually no delays" compared to San Francisco, one of the most delayed airports in the county. "We have less than five days of delays a year," he said.

The opportunity couldn't come to SJC at a better time. According to Sherry, the airport experienced a "pretty severe decline in air service" after the 2008 recession. In particular, flight to the Los Angeles market dropped by almost 25 percent to 20 daily flights. Now with Virgin's four flights and Delta Airline adding four-daily flight on June 10, SJC appears to be making a comeback.

"All of our planes are full. People will fly this airport," Sherry said about the potential market of 3.5 million people who live in the South Bay and would prefer to fly from SJC than travel up an already congested Highway 101. "It's just that we don’t have enough planes. With Virgin coming and American Airlines [to Tokyo] coming in, that provides more capacity, more seats, more jobs and more economic stimulus to the South Bay."

This bodes well for Twitter engineer Chad Rosen. Rosen, a guest of the airline for the morning shinding in Terminal A Gate 15, said that he would consider flying out of SJC to Twitter's office in Los Angeles. Rosen, a Menlo Park resident, noted Twitter's presence in Mountain View and the social media company's ties to the South Bay.

"It's less stressful than getting to San Francisco [International Airport] and less lines, fewer people and less crowds," he said.

"When I do travel I usually exclusively fly Virgin," Rosen said because he appreciates the features like the free Internet to get work done. "The overall experience feels nice. In many airlines you feel like you are flying in the 1970s or 1980s. Here it's a nice sleek experience."

But in the end, it's about demand and Sherry hopes it's there.

"This is Virgin's way of tipping their toe in the water," Sherry said. "Once they feel confident that the travelers would use them here, we are really looking forward to some transcontinental service to cities like DC, New York and Boston."

Virgin CEO Cush couldn't agree more.

"We think that this is a low-risk way of getting into SJC airport," he said and added that their market analysis show an interest from the business community in Santa Clara County. "We’ll see where it takes us from here."

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