Former American Airlines CEO Don Carty has been named chairman of Virgin America, Sir Richard Branson’s planned start-up US airline.
“We have an awful lot of capital, a very good management team. And the Virgin brand is just the icing on the cake,” Carty told Fortune Magazine.
Virgin America is going through the process of getting federal approval to fly in the US.
Major US airlines, however, are lobbying against Virgin’s entry into domestic airspace.
Carty said he did not know when Virgin might obtain approval from the federal Department of Transportation.
He left American Airlines in 2003.
Report by David Wilkening
