Virgin America (San Francisco) says it will commence flights to Hawaii during the last quarter of this year. In a press release, Virgin said it would offer daily flights from San Francisco to Honolulu and Kahului beginning November 2 and December 3 respectively.
Operations are on-board the carrier's incoming fleet of A320-200 (SL)s though this is contingent on them securing ETOPS approval from the FAA. While the FAA extended 180-minute ETOPS approval to the A319, A320, and A321 in 2006, it has yet to do so for their upgraded Sharklet variants.
"Virgin America is working with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Airbus to ensure that the airline’s new Airbus A320 aircraft are certified for Extended Operation (ETOPS). ETOPS is the standard certification process carriers obtain for longer range over water flights," it said.
