Virgin America Wins ‘Top Domestic Airline’ Award And Rolls Out Upgrades

Virgin America has just won Travel + Leisure’s“Top Domestic Airline” award for the eighth year in a row. To celebrate, Virgin has dedicated itself to pleasing travelers even more.

Partnering with ViaSat, Virgin America is bringing updated WiFi networks to their new Airbus A320 aircrafts.

Time laid out the specs.

“The use of ViaSat-1, a high capacity Ka-band satellite service that offers speeds of up to 140 gigabits-per-second, could make Virgin’s WiFi eight to ten times faster than your garden variety inflight networks.”

The new WiFi on Virgin America’s flights will allow travelers greater options for entertainment or the ability to get their work done. It will be especially helpful to students and business people.

In 2009, Virgin America became the first airline to have WiFi available on all their plans. That WiFi was upgraded in 2014. Now, with the new ViaSat partnership, Virgin will be able to offer WiFi that’s just as good as the kind you get at home.

Although the new WiFi will be in only 10 of the planes, it stands to reason that Virgin may expand that number if it proves lucrative enough.

Recently, Virgin America also upgraded their entertainment system. The new version of their Red seatback in-flight entertainment has a higher resolution, capacitive touch monitors, and software that allows the airline to make faster improvement.

Virgin America has also launched surround sound as part of the entertainment upgrade.

For those traveling in first class, Virgin America is updating their menu due to a partnership with Dean & Deluca. Included in the new menu: fresh wraps, fruit and cheese platters, sea salt caramel popcorn, healthy chicken options, new desserts, deli-style sandwiches, and a variety of wines and champagne.

The Virgin America President and CEO, David Cush, explained why it was so important to the airline that they continue to win the “Top Domestic Airline” award.

“Earning the ‘Top Domestic Airline’ distinction in the Travel + Leisure for the eighth consecutive year is a tremendous honor – and reflects our continued commitment to delivering a ‘guest-centric’ travel experience on every flight through better design, technology and topnotch service. This award expresses the opinions of the most experienced travelers – one of the largest surveys of its kind – and proves that we continue to offer the most consistent, upscale flight and travel experience in the U.S. market. Although the award is confirmation that we continue to hit the mark with real travelers – even at just eight years old – we’re not standing still. We’re continuing to make strategic investments in our product to stay ahead of the pack and to answer the needs of travelers.”

[Images courtesy of Virgin America and Justin Sullivan / Getty Images]