Virgin America to battle Southwest on Dallas-Austin route
Virgin America is expanding at its new Dallas Love Field focus city, adding nonstop service to Austin. The intra-Texas route will begin April 28, with Virgin America offering five daily round-trip flights on the route.
With the new service, Virgin America will go head-to-head with Southwest on the route. Southwest is based near Love Field and is by far the dominant carrier at the airport. Southwest offers 10 daily round-trip flights on the route. American also flies nonstop to Austin from its hub at nearby Dallas/Fort Worth.
Virgin America began flying from Dallas Love in October, shifting its flights from Dallas/Fort Worth after winning space at Love Field in a contentious battle for gate space given up by American. American divested its space at Love Field and other airports to win approval for its merger with US Airways.
Virgin America has developed Dallas Love into its first base outside of California. The airline now offers nonstop service from Dallas Love to Los Angeles, New York LaGuardia and Washington Reagan National. Virgin America had planned service between Dallas Love Field and Chicago, but the carrier has not yet launched that route amid concerns about gate space at O'Hare.
Virgin America's Austin customers will be able to connect via Dallas to Los Angeles, New York and Washington. Virgin America also flies from Austin to its biggest hub at San Francisco.
"As we saw when we first launched service from Love Field, more competition lowers fares and offers travelers more product choice," Virgin America CEO David Cush says in a statement. "So we're pleased to have the opportunity to expand again from the airport most convenient to downtown Dallas."
Also in the statement, Cush singled out Virgin America's looming competition with Southwest on the Dallas-Austin route.
"We're especially pleased to expand our service to Austin, a city that was previously only served by a single carrier on the DAL-AUS route," Cush says. "Austin is historically a strong market for us and a city where our tech-forward product resonates with local travelers."