Airline appoints new vice chairman in bid to take off

With the US Department of Transport standing in its way of taking off, fledgling airline Virgin America has added one of the agency’s former leaders to its board in an effort to prove it is not beholden to foreign interests.

Samuel Skinner, the Transportation Department’s secretary under President George Bush in the late 1980s and early 1990s, will serve as Virgin America’s vice chairman in a move announced late yesterday.

Virgin America is trying to convince aviation regulators that it complies with US laws capping foreign control of a US airline at 25 percent – a case that the Burlingame-based startup believes will be bolstered with an ally of the first President Bush in its corner.

The Transportation Department tentatively denied Virgin America’s application to fly a month ago, primarily because of its ties to British entrepreneur Richard Branson – the billionaire who came up with the idea for a new US airline that would offer travellers more comfort at a lower cost than the industry’s long-established powers.

Several of the major US airlines, including American, Delta and Continental, have spearheaded the drive to prevent Virgin America from flying.