Virgin America Names New Senior Vice President Of Planning And Sales

SAN FRANCISCO, July 30, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — Virgin America, the award-winning domestic airline, today announces the appointment of John MacLeod as the Company’s new Senior Vice President of Planning and Sales. MacLeod will lead sales, revenue management, network planning and alliances for the airline. With an impressive depth and breadth of experience in the airline industry that includes revenue management, network planning and alliance development, MacLeod will lead a critical function for Virgin America as the young airline embarks on the next phase of its growth.

“We’re pleased to welcome John to Virgin America as we prepare to mark our fifth anniversary of operations next month,” said Virgin America President and CEO David Cush. “John’s depth of experience in revenue management and network planning will help ensure the successful growth of our route network as we take new aircraft deliveries in 2013.”

MacLeod comes to Virgin America from WestJet, where he served for two and a half years as Vice President of Network Management and Alliances. At WestJet, MacLeod had responsibility for corporate development, network planning, revenue management and alliances during a period of significant revenue and network growth at the Canadian carrier. Prior to joining WestJet, MacLeod worked for Alaska Air Group for seven years, where he was Managing Director of Revenue Management and before that Managing Director for Planning and Alliances. Before coming to Alaska Air Group, MacLeod was a Vice President for Network Planning at Air New Zealand.

MacLeod began his career in the airline industry twenty-five years ago at Canadian Airlines International, where he served in several management positions related to network planning, marketing, reservations and alliances.

MacLeod holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering from University of Cape Town, South Africa and an MBA from York University in Toronto. He will report to Cush and be based at Virgin America’s Burlingame, California headquarters.

Since its August 2007 launch, Virgin America has grown its fleet to 52 aircraft, expanded to 18 cities, created 2,600 new jobs, signed up 2.3 million Elevate® loyalty members and swept the reader-based travel awards, including “Best Domestic Airline” in Conde Nast Traveler’s Readers’ Choice Awards and Travel + Leisure’s World’s Best Awards. For its most recent full year financial results, the airline reported that revenue in 2011 was up 43 percent versus the year prior – significantly outpacing its industry-leading capacity growth. During a period where most of the U.S. industry reported capacity cuts or flat growth, the airline increased its capacity by 29 percent year-over-year in 2011. The airline has doubled its fleet over the past two years. This phase of accelerated growth comes to an end in mid-2012, with deliveries under the carrier’s next major fleet order not starting until later in 2013.