Wednesday’s deal offered Chicago-area Groupon subscribers
Virgin and JetBlue Airways each leased one gate and Spirit herve leger swimwear Airlines leased two gates, according to the Chicago Department of Aviation. The leases run through 2018.
Sam Skinner, Virgin’s vice chairman, acknowledged that the competition at O’Hare is formidable.
“There are a lot of great airlines at O’Hare,” said Skinner, a Chicagoan who was transportation secretary in the administration of President George H.W. Bush. “But Virgin is continuing to ramp up, and we hope to show a profit this year.”
Despite operating only a handful of flights at O’Hare, Virgin is trying to stir up competition by introducing a fare sale and another Groupon offer. It partnered with Groupon in February with the first Groupon aimed solely at air travel, selling all the available tickets in minutes when it announced service to O’Hare.
Wednesday’s deal offered Chicago-area Groupon subscribers the chance to purchase $25 Groupon coupons good for $100 in air travel toward a round-trip purchase on Virgin’s O’Hare flights, officials said. That offer also sold out, although not as quickly, because instead of being emailed to subscribers, it was made available only on the Groupon website, said Groupon president Rob Solomon.
On Wednesday, Virgin introduced a fare sale on the Chicago-to-California routes, starting at $139 each way.
Airfare expert Tom Parsons said he expects to see “more aggressive promotions from Virgin.”
“United and American are also going to try to beat the dickens out of Virgin by dropping airfares,” predicted Parsons, chief executive officer of BestFares.com, a discount travel website.
United and American, which operate more than 80 percent of the flights at O’Hare and provide a network of connections and established frequent-flyer programs that Virgin cannot match, said they welcome the competition.
“The combination of a very competitive product, competitive fares, large amounts of connecting service beyond these three cities to an equally large worldwide network, the largest frequent-flyer program in the world, a long herve leger 2011 history of success in all these markets and other factors means our Chicago service will continue to be successful,” said American spokesman Tim Smith.
United spokesman Rahsaan Johnson said: “Our strategy is squarely focused on giving customers the most convenient schedule and access to the broadest network. We have competed with multiple carriers in these two Chicago-West Coast markets for years. We will continue to do so and will continue to win.”
Virgin’s employees say they are pumped up about flying to Chicago and eager to prove the often-stodgy legacy carriers wrong.
Processing your request, Please wait....
