Virgin America Inc., caught up in a Dallas fare war, said it will fly out of the city with empty seats rather than sell tickets at rates so deeply discounted it cant make money.
We are not going to fly passengers at rates that will not make money, he said on a Thursday conference call with analysts. We are going to make sure we get an average ticket value up to where its sustainable and we can earn a return, and we'll take the hit on load factor.
One-way fares of $30 from Dallas to destinations along the U.S. West Coast and $41 walk-up fares from Dallas to New Yorks LaGuardia Airport were among those Virgin America cited from a recent review of airline data filed with the U.S. Transportation Department. Theres no indication when the battle might end, and everyone is feeling the pain, he said.
Southwest and American are reporting load factors, or the amount of seats sold, above 90 percent on some flights to Los Angeles and New York, with about half the tickets priced below $100, he said.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-02-18/virgin-america-chooses-empty-seats-over-41-dallas-nyc-fares?cmpid=yhoo.headline
We are not going to fly passengers at rates that will not make money, he said on a Thursday conference call with analysts. We are going to make sure we get an average ticket value up to where its sustainable and we can earn a return, and we'll take the hit on load factor.
One-way fares of $30 from Dallas to destinations along the U.S. West Coast and $41 walk-up fares from Dallas to New Yorks LaGuardia Airport were among those Virgin America cited from a recent review of airline data filed with the U.S. Transportation Department. Theres no indication when the battle might end, and everyone is feeling the pain, he said.
Southwest and American are reporting load factors, or the amount of seats sold, above 90 percent on some flights to Los Angeles and New York, with about half the tickets priced below $100, he said.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-02-18/virgin-america-chooses-empty-seats-over-41-dallas-nyc-fares?cmpid=yhoo.headline