Yeah, there's this small article that says Branson may take this opportunity to start it. They have A319s, he may not want the CRJs though.
"According to The Financial Times, Virgin America's Richard Branson is likely to bid for Independence Air's assets. FLYi added that the auction process is expected to begin within the forthcoming 60 days."
The Independent, appropriately enough, have picked up on the story too.
The Independent are normally pretty swiftly about moving their articles to the paid-only archive, so you might have to look at
http://news.independent.co.uk/business/news/article327363.ece sooner rather than later. I know people are strong on respecting copyright so I certainly won't quote the whole lot, but let me fair-use a couple of paras:
"The San Francisco-based company ((Virgin America)) is understood to be looking closely at Independence's operating licence and other assets as a way to bring its fledgling airline into the skies by the first half of next year."
"While some rivals would like Independence to sink completely because it has forced them to dramatically cut their own fares, others view it as attractive because of the popular east coast routes it flies and because its base in Washington's Dulles airport is regarded as a prime spot."
Best,
Chris
