Virgin America Adding More Flights from the West Coast to Newark

First Southwest announced upcoming service between EWR and Puerto Rico, then Alaska Airlines shared its plans to fly to EWR from three new West Coast cities and several other carriers announced new routes to the airport. Now Virgin America is expanding its service to Newark with new round-trip transcontinental flights.

Starting on November 18, 2016, the carrier will offer 10 daily flights from Los Angeles (LAX) to the New York City area, with a new flight to and from Newark. On that same date, Virgin America will also increase the frequency of flights from San Francisco (SFO) to NYC to nine per day, with one additional Newark round-trip on this route as well. This is good news for Elevate members looking to book a transcon, as there will be more available flight times in each direction.

Here's the schedule for flights between LAX and EWR and SFO and EWR, with the new flights in bold:

It's great to see the steady influx of new flight announcements as a result of the FAA's decision to open up slots at Newark to more airlines, including low-cost carriers. While Virgin America's two-cabin Airbus A320 isn't necessarily the most luxurious way to travel coast to coast, the two additional daily flights are definitely positive news for customers — especially since these new flights are launching just in time for the busy holiday travel season. And while the Alaska Airlines-Virgin America merger is set to move forward, the airlines could very well maintain separate brands, so the just-announced flights aren't necessarily going anywhere once the acquisition goes through.

Virgin America's running a brief fare sale to celebrate the announcement, with one-way flights in each direction starting at $149. (If you want to lock in one of these low fares, make sure to do so today, July 28, and note that you must travel between December 6, 2016 and February 28, 2017.)

What other new flight announcements to EWR do you hope to see?