Published on : Wednesday, June 15, 2016
Virgin America, the airline known for making flying fun again, today began nonstop daily flights from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) to Kahului Airport (OGG) with connecting flights from most Virgin America markets, further adding to the airline’s Hawai‘i routes following the launch of LAX – Honolulu (HNL) last month.
Hawai‘i remains the ‘most wanted’ destination by Virgin America’s Elevate® frequent flier program members and continues to be the number one tourism destination from the West Coast, with over 3.5 million visitors in 2015¹.
Virgin America’s service is uniquely tailored to the modern traveler and to the longer-haul Hawai‘i flight experience, as it is the only airline serving the route with new aircraft that offer three custom-designed classes of service, touch-screen personal entertainment and an award-winning on-demand food and cocktail menu on every flight – so travelers can kick-off their Hawai‘i vacation as soon as they step onboard. Virgin America has been named the “Best Domestic Airline” in both Condé Nast Traveler’s Readers’ Choice Awards and in Travel + Leisure’s World’s Best Awards for the past eight consecutive years.
“Since we launched service to Hawai‘i last year, the response from our guests has been overwhelming and we’re thrilled to add yet another route and give flyers the ability to travel from Los Angeles to Maui in style,” said John MacLeod, Senior Vice President of Sales and Planning at Virgin America. “Our aircraft offer three custom-designed classes of service, signature moodlighting, touch-screen personal entertainment and an award-winning on-demand food and cocktail menu on every flight – allowing Los Angeles travelers to begin their vacation the minute they step onboard.”
In honor of the new route, Virgin America is celebrating with a special “Now Serving Paradise” fare sale with fares from $199 one way (taxes and fees included and restrictions applying). The new LAX – HNL and LAX –OGG flights are on sale now and can be purchased at www.virginamerica.com or 1-877-FLY-VIRGIN.** Elevate program members can redeem reward flights to Hawai‘i – with no black-out dates, for as few as 8,596 points (plus taxes and fees). Members can earn more points by signing up for the Virgin America Visa Signature Credit Card.
Guests onboard the inaugural flight were treated to free GoPro Hero Session cameras to help document their Hawai‘ian vacation. The Hero Session is GoPro’s smallest, lightest, most convenient GoPro yet, packing GoPro’s Emmy® Award-winning image quality and performance into an exciting new low profile form factor. Guests will also be treated to a complimentary ‘POG mimosa’ toast at 35,000 feet with GoPro athlete and professional surfer, Kalani Robb. Virgin America and GoPro first partnered in 2013 to launch The GoPro Channel onboard the airline fleetwide. Upon touchdown in Maui, the Hawai‘i Tourism Authority will greet travelers in the tradition of Hawai‘i’s aloha spirit with fresh flower lei and live Hawai‘ian music right at the gate.
“Virgin America’s nonstop Maui service and in-flight hospitality presents an enticing pairing for its customers in greater Los Angeles when making vacation plans,” said George D. Szigeti, President and CEO of the Hawai‘i Tourism Authority. “Maui, the Magic Isle, is an extremely popular destination choice for travelers from Southern California. Virgin America’s daily Los Angeles-Maui flights offer a convenient new option that will meet customer demand and be a great boost in business for the island’s tourism industry.”
Starting today, Virgin America’s Los Angeles to Kahului-Maui service is as follows:
FROM TO DEPART ARRIVE FREQUENCY
LAX OGG 9:35 AM 12:25 PM Daily
OGG LAX 1:40 PM 9:55 PM Daily
Virgin America’s Los Angeles to Honolulu service is as follows:
FROM TO DEPART ARRIVE FREQUENCY
LAX HNL 10:35 AM 1:25 PM Daily
HNL LAX 2:25 PM 10:55 PM Daily
As part of its efforts to plant new roots in the
Hawai‘i community, Virgin America is also proud to announce a continued partnership with Aha Pūnana Leo, a nonprofit that provides for and nurtures various Hawaiian language environments. Started by a group of Hawaiian language educators in 1982, the organization’s advocacy has resulted in an education system in which students in Hawai‘i may study from preschool all the way through doctoral-level studies in the indigenous Hawaiian language. The airline is providing $10,000 to support the organization’s education programs in Maui this year.
The daily, nonstop flights will be operated with new Airbus A320 aircraft that Virgin America has taken delivery of this year, which are equipped with fuel-saving, ‘sharklet’ wingtip devices, allowing the airline to operate flights more efficiently, especially over longer haul routes.
Last month, nearly 100,000 Los Angelenos entered a “Work Hard, Hawai‘i Hard” contest launched by Virgin America for a chance at the ultimate #Hawaiiscape with tickets to paradise on the airline’s upscale flights and luxury accommodations – just by sharing why they need a vacation. Additionally, Virgin America also surprised one random business traveler at LAX this morning with their very own trip to paradise, including flights and accommodations at one of the island’s premier resorts, Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea.
In addition to a Main Cabin that offers custom-designed leather seating with a deeper, more comfortable pitch, Virgin America’s exclusive eight-seat First Class cabin offers plush white leather seating with 55 inches of pitch, 165 degrees of recline and lumbar massagers. The carrier’s Main Cabin Select service offers 38-inches of pitch, free food and cocktails, an all-access pass to media content, dedicated overhead bins and priority check-in/boarding. The Red® in-flight entertainment platform offers guests their own seatback touch-screen TV, with more than 20 films, TV***, interactive Google Maps, videogames, a 3,000 song library and an on-demand menu, which allows flyers to order a cocktail or snack from their seatback any time during a flight. With a full service First Class menu and a unique on-demand menu in the Main Cabin, Virgin America was namedTravel + Leisure’s “Best Domestic Airline for Food” in 2014.
Since its 2007 launch, Virgin America has created more than 2,800 new jobs and expanded its network to include Austin, Boston, Cancun, Chicago, Dallas Love Field, Denver, Fort Lauderdale, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Los Cabos, Newark, New York (JFK and LGA), Orlando, Palm Springs, Portland, Puerto Vallarta, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Washington D.C. (IAD and DCA), Honolulu and Kahului, Maui.
Source:- Virgin America
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