For the second time, a Virgin airline cuts Toronto out of its list of destinations
Back in April, we were so hopeful about Virgin America’s new flights to San Francisco and L.A. That hope proved wasted last Friday when the airline announced that both services will end on April 6, 2011. The company chose Toronto as the airline’s first international destination last year, beginning service on June 23. Executive chief of Virgin America David Cush told the Star that Virgin intended to corner Toronto’s west coast–headed business market, citing our city as a leading centre in entertainment, technology and finance. The airline even hyped its Toronto launch by naming an Airbus A320 after rapper Drake and throwing a—we kid you not—party in the sky hosted by Virgin Group founder Richard Branson and attended by Arnold Schwarzenegger.
This is the second time that a Virgin airline has pulled out of Pearson: the first was an ill-fated link between here and Heathrow operated by sister company Virgin Atlantic. So why is Virgin America leaving YYZ now? According a company press release, “The airline has decided to indefinitely suspend its YYZ service and instead immediately move capacity into other existing and more lucrative markets from the West Coast.” Vice-president of planning and sales Diana Walk says the company hopes “to return to YYZ at some point, but in the smaller Toronto–west coast markets, we were not able to stimulate demand as quickly as we would have liked… We would like to thank the Toronto airport and community for supporting us.”
But not supporting them enough, apparently.
![](http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https://torontolife.com/city/for-the-second-time-a-virgin-airline-cuts-toronto-out-of-its-list-of-destinations/&title=For the second time, a Virgin airline cuts Toronto out of its list of destinations&picture=https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Virgin-America.jpg&description=[caption id="attachment_53360" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Toronto to lose its Virginity in April (Image: BriYYZ)"][/caption]
Back in April, we were so hopeful about Virgin America’s new flights to San Francisco and L.A. That hope proved wasted last Friday when the airline announced that both services will end on April 6, 2011. The company chose Toronto as the airline’s first international destination last year, beginning service on June 23. Executive chief of Virgin America David Cush told the Star that Virgin intended to corner Toronto’s west coast–headed business market, citing our city as a leading centre in entertainment, technology and finance. The airline even hyped its Toronto launch by naming an Airbus A320 after rapper Drake and throwing a—we kid you not—party in the sky hosted by Virgin Group founder Richard Branson and attended by Arnold Schwarzenegger.
This is the second time that a Virgin airline has pulled out of Pearson: the first was an ill-fated link between here and Heathrow operated by sister company Virgin Atlantic. So why is Virgin America leaving YYZ now? According a company press release, “The airline has decided to indefinitely suspend its YYZ service and instead immediately move capacity into other existing and more lucrative markets from the West Coast.” Vice-president of planning and sales Diana Walk says the company hopes “to return to YYZ at some point, but in the smaller Toronto–west coast markets, we were not able to stimulate demand as quickly as we would have liked… We would like to thank the Toronto airport and community for supporting us.”
But not supporting them enough, apparently.){kind=link}
YYZ is insane in terms of pricing. Some of that is their fault, landing fees etc., and some of that is the severe double-fee problem with having to pay US and Cdn agencies a zillion fees. As I type this, I can fly round trip from New York to Toronto for no less than $450, or I can fly to Buffalo for $99. Not all of that is related to the desire to visit Buffalo in January. YYZ has a problem.
Clearly Virgin realized that Toronto only works if you are running a lot of cost-immune business travel or are flying to a place where you can control the market. Like Southwest and JetBlue, they need to control costs and will therefore stay out of Canada and out of Toronto.
I fly all the time between Toronto and Los Angeles. Virgin’s departure times were absolutely idiotic. Morons.
I agree with Dean. When I was planning my recent trip to L.A., the only return flights were red-eyes! Not ideal for anyone — especially not those in Virgin’s target market.
Dean hit the nail on the head. Air Canada and American Airlines have the best time slots to LA. Virgin was doing this on the cheap. They should have done 2 daily flights to LA and SFO or drop one (or vice versa)
Their flight schedules didn’t make sense for the average traveller. They’re targeting casual travelers and holiday makers, but all of their flights from the West Coast to YYZ were overnight flights. Those red-eyes are more for business travelers.
i like the service and have used it to LA since it started. It is great, there are no line-ups, nobody on the plane… I guess that was the problem. Sad to see them go, I have enjoyed the wifi on the plane, happy unrushed staff, live TV, easy web check-in. If these things are possible, why doesn’t Air Canada do them???
… and why not continue do them at the prices they offered? everything is back up to $700-$800 a seat… interesting…
I wonder if they’ll come back again to Toronto but to the Island Airport?
Toronto’s fees are just too high. Is there any chance Hamilton/Ancaster will open up as an inexpensive option? I like to fly from Toronto, but I really have to watch carefully to get reasonably competitive prices. Right now there is a $300 per person difference between Buf and YYZ per person, that is just too much!