It appears that Virgin Atlantic, equipped with some of the nicest aircraft in the business, is ready to take on the US domestic air travel market, offering its premium service and uniquely fun experience to consumers as yet another low-cost travel option.

The problem, according to Virgin:

Almost immediately, incumbent legacy airlines filed dozens of extraneous opposition briefs to the Department, without examining any of Virgin America’s documents. These filings were a successful attempt to delay our launch and temporarily stymie competition in the marketplace.

The traveler’s equivalent of online porn:

More pictures of the flashy planes they’ll be offering passengers on US routes

Here’s what else American carriers are TKO’ing, just so that they can reduce their own competition and fully enjoy next year’s expected 3-7 percent fare increase – approximately 3,000 new jobs (1,600 of them in the Bay Area). Between $5 million and $10 million a year in Bay Area spending for Virgin America’s headquarters. Some $24 million in state and local taxes. The consumer’s convenience of having a low-cost carrier at San Francisco International Airport. The world’s first environmentally-conscious carrier plan – Virgin America wanted to tow its planes from the gate to the runway to save fuel, and it planned to buy from the new generation of quieter, more fuel-efficient planes. Our dear American carriers have so far resisted these planes because of the costs. These are blows from which we won’t easily recover.

To me, the long and the short is that Virgin has a long history of getting strong-armed out of its attempts to enter into new markets with its highly service-oriented, competitively-priced air travel services. They are one of few companies that have arguably generated much of their success by standing up for consumers and earning tremendous trust. After all, it takes tremendous trust to have consumers join your fight against the Dept of Transportation to allow you to enter the American domestic travel market.