So, let’s see if we’ve got this straight.
Virgin USA has its corporate headquarters in New York, but its flight ops headquarters will be clear across the country in San Francisco.
They need to hire 3,000 people from pilots to baggage handlers in the next year and start running ‘low-cost’ operations to compete with JetBlue and Southwest sometime in 2005.
They haven’t decided which planes to buy and no routes have been announced.
So their first order of business?
Why, « spending millions to secure naming rights to Candlestick Park in San Francisco », of course:
‘Mayor Gavin Newsom, in his hunt for new revenue for the cash-strapped city, has proposed entering into a naming rights agreement for the ‘Stick with the San Francisco 49ers who play their home games at the city-owned stadium. The football team, in turn, would make a deal—and probably some money in the transaction—with a company that wants to put its moniker on the wind-blown stadium in the southeastern corner of San Francisco. The mayor’s office now has five companies interested in competing for the sponsorship deal, according to Newsom administration officials. They are: Virgin USA; banking giant Wells Fargo & Co.; Monster Cable Products Inc. in Brisbane; Macromedia Inc., a San Francisco internet and multimedia software firm; and Organic Inc., a digital services firm in San Francisco.’
How ‘bout a three-way deal? Name it Organic Virgin Monster Point. But I digress.
I am mildly curious why an airline with no pilots, planes or routes is negotiating with the City of San Francisco to spend millions to put its name on a crappy football stadium.
Sounds like they’re already off to a great start …
