L.A. Nixed as Virgin Airline Site

Virgin USA, a nascent low-cost airline that flamboyant billionaire Richard Branson wants to start in the U.S., has eliminated Los Angeles as its possible headquarters site.

The airline, which expects to start service this year, has narrowed possible locations for its headquarters to San Francisco, Boston and northern Virginia, a Virgin executive said. A final decision is expected in the next few weeks.

Los Angeles was one of about a dozen cities that were vying for the new airline. A unit of Branson’s London-based Virgin Group Ltd., the company expects to hire 3,200 employees by 2006. About two-thirds of the employees would work out of the headquarters, airline executives said.

In November, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger lobbied Branson to base the headquarters in California and discussed the possibility of sites near Los Angeles International Airport and San Francisco International Airport.

Virgin executives declined to say why Los Angeles was eliminated. The other locations still under consideration also will be near airports, they said.