Virgin America Wins Best Domestic Airline in 13th Annual World’s Best Awards

San Francisco -- July 9, 2008 -- Virgin America, the California-based airline that is reinventing domestic air travel, today took the top honors as “Best Domestic Airline” in the prestigious Travel + Leisure Annual World’s Best Awards readers’ survey.

“We're delighted to welcome so many new winners this year, said Nancy Novogrod, Editor-in-Chief of Travel + Leisure. “Virgin America came on strong in its very first year of service, winning the prize for Best Domestic Airline.”

Travel + Leisure’s World’s Best Awards readers’ survey is an annual, impartial reader survey that allows Travel + Leisure readers to share their opinions of their favorite travel finds.* Airlines are rated by Travel + Leisure readers in several categories: cabin comfort, food, in-flight service, customer service, and value.

“Virgin America was launched just last year with the goal of creating a different kind of airline: one built around providing an upscale, innovative, high-value customer experience for smart travelers in the urban destinations we serve,” said Virgin America Chief Executive Officer David Cush. “So, we couldn’t be more honored to take the top award as Best Domestic Airline from Travel + Leisure’s readers -- those who fly the most and expect the very best in design, comfort and service in all their travel choices.”

The complete 2008 results, including the Top 100 Hotels Worldwide, Top 100 Hotels in the Continental U.S. + Canada, and Top 10 Cities in the World, are featured on www.travelandleisure.com/worldsbest now and in Travel + Leisure’s August issue, available on newsstands July 22, 2008.

“These awards are certainly not a finish line,” Cush said. “It shows that we are moving in the right direction, but our goal from the start was to design an airline by listening to what travelers actually want. We’ve already implemented customer suggestions taken from our seatback video-screens from some of our very first August 2007 flights. We may not be the biggest, but we aim to be the most innovative, customer-facing and best in the domestic airline market.”

The Travel + Leisure World’s Best Awards winners for 2008, including Virgin America’s Cush, will be honored in New York City on July 24, 2008, at an awards luncheon at the Four Seasons Restaurant, followed by a gala event at Hudson Terrace that evening.