• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Virgin America Announces New Entertainment Line-Up, More WiFi for Spring

Posted on: Thursday, 12 March 2009, 10:00 CDT

Airline Debuts 2009 Oscar-winning and Latest Release Movies on Red(TM); Expands Gogo(R) In-flight Internet Service

SAN FRANCISCO, March 12 /PRNewswire/ -- Virgin America, the California-based, award-winning airline, today unveiled a new entertainment line-up on its touch-screen entertainment platform - Red(TM). This spring, travelers on Virgin America will be able to use the Red(TM) touch-screen on their seatback to select from a new library of 25 on-demand films, including Oscar-winning and nominated films like Slumdog Millionaire, Doubt, The Dark Knight and Tropic Thunder. The airline also announced that WiFi is now available on nearly half of its fleet - with 13 of its new 28 Airbus A320-family planes equipped with Gogo In-flight Internet service. As of today, guests can now see which Virgin America flights are Gogo-enabled when booking on-line at: www.virginamerica.com.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090123/VIRGINAMERICALOGO)

"We're continuing to invest in our award-winning service with these latest improvements to Red(TM) and the ongoing roll-out of in-flight internet across our fleet. Our mission from the start has been to reinvent domestic air travel by offering travelers more choices and amenities, rather than fewer - all for low fares," said Porter Gale, Vice President of Marketing for Virgin America. "In the current climate especially, travelers are looking for value - and we think that we offer the best value in the domestic skies in terms of amenities, service and fares."

Virgin America has the largest in-flight entertainment library in the domestic skies. In addition to a 25-film library at every seat that includes Oscar winners, foreign language films and Hollywood blockbusters, Red(TM) features live TV, video games, seat-to-seat chat, 3,000 MP3s, music videos and more. Software upgrades to the Linux-based Red(TM) system will go live this summer, allowing for even greater functionality, reliability and speed. The upgrades will also enable continued build-out of Red(TM)'s already robust entertainment platform.

Virgin America now offers WiFi Internet service on 13 of its planes, including all of the flights on the carrier's new Boston routes. Gogo In-flight Internet is available for $12.95 for daytime flights of over three hours, $9.95 for daytime flights of less than three hours, $5.95 on red-eye flights and $7.95 for handheld devices. As of April 5th, all flights between Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles will be WiFi enabled. By the second quarter of 2009, Virgin America will be the first U.S. carrier to offer in-flight internet fleetwide.

"Both the usage rates for Gogo and the outpouring of positive feedback about the service have exceeded our expectations. Our guests are even using in-flight WiFi to send tweets, Facebook updates and love letters to us from the sky. Now for the first time travelers can check for flights that offer WiFi when booking online," continued Gale.

Virgin America plans to introduce additional video games, movies, a new television channel line-up, a Best of the Web category and other new content in the latter half of 2009 - all of which will be made possible by Linux-based system upgrades taking place this summer.

Some of the new Red(TM) Films and Premium TV debuting on Red(TM) in March include:

• Slumdog Millionaire
• Doubt
• The Dark Knight
• Tropic Thunder
• Four Christmases
• Quantum of Solace
• Cadillac Records
• HBO's Big Love
• HBO's True Blood
• HBO's Flight of the Concords
• HBO's Bob Saget: That Ain't Right
• HBO's Lewis Black: Red, White & Screwed

Virgin America flies to San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Washington D.C., Seattle, Las Vegas, San Diego and Boston. The airline is one of the fastest growing of all time, with a new 28-aircraft Airbus A320-family fleet and daily flights from: SFO to LAX, SFO to JFK, SFO to SAN, SFO to IAD, SFO to LAS, LAX to JFK, LAX to IAD, SFO to SEA, SEA to LAX, JFK to LAS, BOS to LAX, BOS to SFO and starting on April 30 - SFO to SNA.

About Virgin America: Launched in August 2007, Virgin America 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 modern International Terminal. The airline's new Airbus A320-family aircraft offer interactive in-flight entertainment systems and power outlets for electronic gear. In just over a year flying, Virgin America was named "Best Domestic Airline" in the Conde Nast Traveler 2008 Readers' Choice Awards and "Best Domestic Airline" in Travel + Leisure's 2008 World's Best Awards. To learn more: www.virginamerica.com

SOURCE Virgin America

Source: PR Newswire

More News in this Category