Itineraries – Start-Ups Airlines Try to Find Room at Airports – NYTimes.com
Virgin America has managed to survive skyrocketing oil prices and an economic crisis since it started in mid-2007 and even hopes to achieve an operating profit this year.
Passenger planes at Newark Airport in 2007. Start-up airlines have trouble getting access to scarce runway slots and terminal gates at some of the nation’s biggest and busiest airports.
But the airline, based in San Francisco, still faces the same hurdle that has daunted previous start-ups: getting access to scarce runway slots and terminal gates at some of the nation’s biggest and busiest airports.
“We’ve been told at Newark that we can’t get in, and we’ve been told at J.F.K. that we can’t expand,” David Cush, Virgin America’s chief executive, said, referring to negotiations with the Federal Aviation Administration, which has limited flight operations at both airports to ease delays.
Even if an airline can gain access to runway slots at appealing times, it must negotiate the right to use an airport’s gates, which are typically controlled by the airport authority and airlines that have long-term leases. Established airlines have been reluctant to sublease their gates to low-fare competitors. Or, if they do, they demand high rents, which is why airlines like Southwest have gravitated toward secondary airports like Chicago Midway instead of O’Hare International Airport.
Virgin America has been trying to establish service at O’Hare, where a runway built in late 2008 opened more takeoff and landing slots but has not yet opened the door to new competition.
“Ninety-nine percent of the departures out of O’Hare are operated by legacy carriers, and that is quite unique given the size of the market,” Mr. Cush said, but added that he was optimistic he could negotiate access to gates at O’Hare “in the next couple of months.”
The battle over access to slots is also likely to intensify this year as the economy recovers and the F.A.A. revisits the issue.
via Itineraries – Start-Ups Airlines Try to Find Room at Airports – NYTimes.com.