New airline to offer flights from Seattle to San Francisco, L.A.

Virgin America will start flying from Seattle to San Francisco and Los Angeles in the spring, the fourth new airline this year to announce service from Sea-Tac airport.

The Virgin America service begins March 18 with three daily non-stop flights between Sea-Tac International Airport and San Francisco International Airport.

On April 8, three daily non-stop flights will begin between Seattle and Los Angeles International Airport. A fourth daily flight between Seattle and L.A. will start May 11.

The new airline, which started flying between the West and East coasts and Las Vegas in the summer, will compete with Alaska Airlines and other carriers that already serve the popular Seattle-to-California routes.

Virgin America is an offshoot of British entrepreneur Richard Branson's Virgin Atlantic Airlines. Virgin America's new planes feature leather seats and are tech-friendly with an extensive choice of movies and electronic games; the airline also says it will install fleet-wide, in-flight Internet access.

"Virgin America will offer Puget Sound travelers an additional airline choice with some unique, tech-driven features and flight amenities," Port of Seattle Commission President John Creighton said in a statement.

This is the fourth new airline to announce service at Sea-Tac airport this year. Air France started non-stop flights to Paris; AeroMexico offers non-stop service to Mexico City, and Lufthansa announced non-stop service to Frankfurt. Earlier this week, Northwest Airlines announced it will begin daily non-stop service to London in June.

Kristin Jackson: kjackson@seattletimes.com