Virgin America, possibly the most stylish airline in North America, now flies to the City of Brotherly Love. The airline started nonstop service between Philadelphia and Los Angeles yesterday, and service between Philly and San Francisco begins April 10. It is Philadelphia’s first new airline in eight years.
The new service will link Philadelphia with Virgin America’s west-coast hubs, and the airline will also offer connecting flights between Philly and Seattle, San Diego, Las Vegas, and Portland (beginning April 5).
Onboard the inaugural flight were who’s-who’s such as Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group, Amber Rose, a model/actress/singer, Glenn Howerton (of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia fame), and actor Seth Green. Once the plane reached Philly, Virgin hosted a ‘Tailgate on the Tarmac,’ where Philadelphia elite hobnobbed with Virgin America’s new employees as well as the inaugural flight’s special guests.
In typical Virgin fashion, they then hosted a gathering at Kimpton’s Hotel Palomar, where DJ Jazzy Jeff spun for guests that included Terence Howard, Penn Badgely, Wiz Khalifa, M. Night Shayamalan, and Zoe Kravitz.
If we were to list all of the awards Virgin has won, the blog would go on forever. From 2008-2011, they were named Travel + Leisure’s ‘Best Domestic Airline,’ and have also been named ‘Best Domestic Airline’ in Conde Nast’s Reader’s Choice Awards four years in a row. And they’ve only been airborne four years.
If you’re unfamiliar with Virgin America, they’re that really ultra-hip airline with nine-inch personal TVs on every seatback, a world-class menu, really cool First Class, and mood lighting on each plane.
Photos by Bob Riha / Virgin America.
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