For those of you in NYC who are not interested in Southwest Airlines

The heck with saving money, start the vacation immediately

LV Air will be Las Vegas' newest airline that will fly non-stop from JFK Airport in NYC to Las Vegas' McCarran Airport in 2011. The company plans to charter four wide body aircraft to Las Vegas daily.

In-flight offerings include inter-seat texting; inter-seat video, wireless ipads, club music, mood lighting and true-to-life holographic safety briefings from Las Vegas celebrities . Deluxe Snack Packs will be offered on board and supplied by Las Vegas restaurants.

The First Class Cabins of each aircraft will be fully-sponsored. The sponsor will design the cabin décor, carpet, uniforms, meals, blankets, pilows and seating upholstery. First-class seats will fully recline similar to those of international flights.

LV Air hopes to pick up pent up demand from the nearly 20,000 seats "per day" currently missing from the Las Vegas market since 2008

Single Destination business model:

LV Air will serve only Las Vegas. No other destination will be offered.

The company plans to utilize a smart phone based reservation platform: "The website is planned to be the most in-depth and intelligently designed product offering of the Las Vegas market ever seen. The shopping cart is expected to be a full "concierge" experience whereas customers can reserve seats, purchase deluxe meal packs, In-flight ipads, rooms, limo service, show tickets, tours and club outings as well as specifically tailored packages by frequent Las Vegas celebrities sold as a package experience. As easily accessed from a Smart Phone as the company's own site" says Marketing Officer Sean Smith. "There are excellent product offerings in Las Vegas, the only competitive disadvantage our beautiful city has, is air lift, That will change when we return to what made this city memorable, unique offerings and a customer focused Vegas flavor of service, that's what LV Air will bring to the table. After customers experience flying LV Air, flying any other airline will seem like a visit to Grandma's house," says Smith.

"It's been a collaboration of very hard working and smart people who have identified a solution to the Las Vegas lift issue. We're working 14-hour days to make this happen in the shortest time possible so that we can put Las Vegans back to work"…he said.

A Focused product

LV Air plans to work with nine select hotel-casino properties in Las Vegas to offer a one-of-a-kind experience to customers by consolidating the strength of its nine properties.

LV Air preferred hotel-casino partners will allow customers to have the following inclusive services:

1. "Straight to room" baggage service
2. "Front Desk" check-in for flight departures
3. 24/7 concierge line
4. 24/7 smart phone accessible limo service between properties
5. Smart Phone RFID (recognition software) for VIP treatment ( as guest approaches 100 ft. guest photo will display on front desk/ limousine/ club host display for immediate recognition)
6. Consolidated buffet pricing
7. Consolidated show pricing
8. Restaurant seating preference
9. Night Club booth preference and fixed entry and bottle pricing
10. Auto reminders, upgrade opportunities and last minute offerings on smart phones daily to all customers traveling on site and outbound

National marketing and brand design will be handled by New York Advertising Firm, The Gotham Group Inc. known for its successful campaigns for Maybelline, Denny's and FreshDirect.com. "A hallmark of the Gotham culture is our challenger mentality. In our own business we frequently take on bigger, more established (and often more complacent competitors). We never take anything for granted and we win by not only being smarter, but by trying harder and digging deeper than anyone else. In LV Air, we recognize a fellow challenger brand. A group of people that's ready to provide a better product and experience by taking on entrenched organizations, entrenched processes and entrenched perceptions. And we're excited by the opportunity to partner with them and shake up the airline industry," says Nick Johnson, Chief Marketing Officer/Managing Partner.

Local marketing and client rewards development will be handled by Trialogue Direct, a spinoff of SKG Advertising in Las Vegas.

The airline hopes to expand flights based upon demand. "We're in no rush to expand," says Smith, "the goal is to fill Las Vegas hotel rooms with players, conventioneers and vacationers from the Northeast by drawing a straight line between the customer at his home to the casino floor and then back again…that's going to require our partners to get involved in our success and vice versa. Our flights may not be the lowest priced, but definitely the most exciting to Las Vegas."

LV Air represents a collaboration between two private companies, Perpetual Group LLC based in Las Vegas and Park Avenue Investors Group in New York.

Rather optimistic. In the last 5 years he amount of flights from NYC has diminished a bit. I doubt hey can add 4 wide bodies a week let alone a day.

How about adding charter service from Pittsburgh to Vegas as well? Ever since USeless Airways closed their hubs in both cities, the only nonstop service is on Southwest...and their fares on the route are exorbitant.

I generally like Southwest, but that's how they make their money...offer cut-rate fares on heavily traveled routes, and make up the difference by price-gouging on routes where they have a monopoly. I wouldn't mind seeing a little competition.

The best thing for NYC to LV is now Virgin America. Great rates

Quote: OneAngryDwarf

How about adding charter service from Pittsburgh to Vegas as well? Ever since USeless Airways closed their hubs in both cities, the only nonstop service is on Southwest...and their fares on the route are exorbitant.

I generally like Southwest, but that's how they make their money...offer cut-rate fares on heavily traveled routes, and make up the difference by price-gouging on routes where they have a monopoly. I wouldn't mind seeing a little competition.

I've priced Southworst and they were never a good deal for my travels. I go jetBlue. Downside is you have to lay over at JFK for everything. Upside is they do a good fligh and recently remodeled their terminal there which is now very nice whereas three years ago it was a virtual third world terminal.

If anyone wants to start an airline my word of advice is DON'T. If you take all USA Airlines since the Wright Brothers and added up all the profits and all the losses it is a net loss. No sane person would start an airline.

I wonder what the fares will be? Southwest is charging a minimum of $715 for cut rate trip from NYC are to Vegas where no non-stops are available, and an extra $500 for business select. They seem to be overpriced for the market.

It is obvious that LVAir intends to make all their money on people who book hotels, VIP service, limousines, show tickets, dining reservations, etc. Presumably, they are expecting the casinos to comp tickets on the airline for New York whales.

Competition for non stop flights;
Newark: Continental
La Guardia: Not permitted by regulations
JFK: Delta, American, Virgin America, JetBlue

Quote: pacomartin

I wonder what the fares will be? Southwest is charging a minimum of $715 for cut rate trip from NYC are to Vegas where no non-stops are available, and an extra $500 for business select. They seem to be overpriced for the market.

It is obvious that LVAir intends to make all their money on people who book hotels, VIP service, limousines, show tickets, dining reservations, etc. Presumably, they are expecting the casinos to comp tickets on the airline for New York whales.

Competition for non stop flights;
Newark: Continental
La Guardia: Not permitted by regulations
JFK: Delta, American, Virgin America, JetBlue

That seems like a hell of a lot. I don't think I have ever paid more than $450 r/t from NYC to LV. Flying in early April for $240 RT

Quote: OneAngryDwarf

the only nonstop service is on Southwest...and their fares on the route are exorbitant.

I generally like Southwest, but that's how they make their money...offer cut-rate fares on heavily traveled routes, and make up the difference by price-gouging on routes where they have a monopoly. I wouldn't mind seeing a little competition.

We generally fly SWA, because we have found good fares there, and they have some non-stop service to LV.
We booked in January, and have non-stop flights from PIT to LV for $ 329 RT for late March, plus we are
using a couple of Freq Flier tix.

The SWA FF program always seems to have some ways to earn bonus credits, through rental cars
and hotels, and we use that to build up free tix. They are re-vamping the whole FF program in a few
weeks, and to me that usually means they are tightening things up, but putting that into a pretty package
so its harder to tell by how much.

Quote: pacomartin

The heck with saving money, start the vacation immediately

LV Air will be Las Vegas' newest airline that will fly non-stop from JFK Airport in NYC to Las Vegas' McCarran Airport in 2011. The company plans to charter four wide body aircraft to Las Vegas daily.

Interesting, but...

I'll be a little surprised if they manage to actually implement this, but who knows.

I'll be even more surprised if they stay in business more than 5 or 6 months.

What was the name of the upstart discount carrier that flew into alternate
cities that went out of business a couple of years ago ? I don't think they
ever had LV on their schedule.

Quote: JohnnyQ

What was the name of the upstart discount carrier that flew into alternate cities that went out of business a couple of years ago ? I don't think they ever had LV on their schedule.

There was a number of discount carriers that closed their doors in the recession. Midwest Express was a discount "all business class" luxury service that went out of business last year and sold their assets to Frontier Airlines.

This LVAir is not a "discount" airline per se. It is proposing to offer luxury service and one stop shopping at reasonable rates for the level of service. They are looking for the person who wants nice rooms, spa treatments for the lady, show tickets, limousine rides, VIP treatment, and nice airplane seats with good food (at a tolerable price). The smart phone is an integral part of this service.