If you're one of the tens of thousands of Americans who thought you might get a job out of Virgin America then, as I'm sure you know by now, your government has decided you shouldn't get that chance.
No, the Department of Transportation, in its infinite majesty, has concluded, after a year or so of pondering, that a company employing exclusively Americans, paying overwhelmingly US taxes, managed entirely by Americans, and bringing innovation, robustness and cheaper pricing to American consumers, through the use of one of the world's most successful brands, is not a fit citizen to do business in the USA.
That's because....umm, well, I'm not exactly sure what that's because. It seems that the DOT has decided that this airline is "not actually controlled" by US citizens. Well, charming guy that Sir Richard Branson is, if the DOT truly believes that he is "controlling" Virgin America then they clearly haven't "actually" talked to him about it. No, Sir Richard is undisputed king of one of the global economy's great machines but a detail-man he is not. Try this wonderful interview if you doubt me. Sadly it's been truncated, but his explanation of gross and net was that gross was the world market for a product by revenue and net was the bit you actually got. (No, really, that's what he said.)
I rather think Virgin America is not going to go away and I hope that it will eventually embarass Congress and the government into doing the right thing. The much-predicted weakening in the US economy (which I personally think has been overdone - the quoted indicators are pretty much in the froth of a major economy) might well fix that.
Lurking behind all this is the issue of open skies in Europe, and particularly London. The Brits take protectionism to new heights over this of course, but it's in a very narrow context - and the UK is arguable the most welcoming place in the world for foreigners to do business. Anyway, it's not really an issue - American, Delta and United can switch to Paris or Frankfurt or Amsterdam or wherever as their main European gateway anytime they like.
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