Pawlowski says the Bay Area site selection process ensued with a contingent of area organizations led by the San Mateo Economic Development Corp.'s Debra Brindelson, working with Dennis Conaghan of the San Francisco Center for Economic Development, state senator Jackie Spear and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's staff members David Crane and Mark Moser. Another important participant was John Martin, director of San Francisco International, and one of the first people Pawlowski had contacted way back in 2003. Equity Office Partners introduced Virgin to a handful of properties with a few miles of the airport, and the final Burlingame selection ensued.
   "As I talk to you, we're watching airplanes on final approach," says Pawlowski. "There is great visibility of the airplanes for people that perhaps don't get out and fly. Somebody in finance or IT, or an analyst, will have the ability to look up and see our airplanes flying, which will remind them what they do for a living. And it's accessible to our crews – 50 percent of an airline's worker population is remote, and this will increase the frequency with which we interact with the flight crews. It's all about keeping the employees engaged with their company."
   Asked if Asian market aspirations were part of the San Francisco site selection, he says the airline is purely domestic and concentrated on a route network in the 48 contiguous states – "We'll look at expanding beyond that contingent based on how we're being received in the marketplace," he says.
   Some detractors are pointing out the airline's name and idea connections to Virgin Inc. and its gregarious founder Richard Branson. Spokesman Kramer is quick to point out the distinctions.
   "Honestly, we haven't given a lot of thought to Richard and Richard's role in Virgin America," he says. "He's incredibly popular when it comes to what he's going to do next. People wrongly assume this is his airline. Notwithstanding the fact we're leasing the Virgin brand, Virgin America is not Virgin Atlantic and not just a Virgin company. We'd be foolish to ignore Richard, but we haven't promised anything to Richard or promised Richard's availability or what kind of role he's going to play."
   Early summer saw a brief San Francisco headquarters consideration by United Airlines, which ended up moving only slightly from its suburban Chicago HQ to one in the center city. Pawlowski says that was not much of a blip on the area radar.
   "We all understood what United was doing and what the decision was going to be," he says. "To have a beauty pageant you need to have a couple of contestants, but I don't believe the team took it all that seriously."
   Virgin's own plans are plenty serious. Future facilities in the region could include a training facility and an aircraft hangar. But they decidedly do not include a call center, as Virgin America is choosing to partner with a company that specializes in the work- from- home outsource call center model: "In terms of flexibility and scalability, the economics are vastly superior than if you build a call center and put in your own IT center," says Pawlowski.
   Pawlowski says city officials were "fantastic" to deal with on the bricks and mortar that's gone up so far, expediting permits and inspections so the company could move in on time. Now if the airplanes could just get in the air to their on- time destinations.
   "We had hoped to be in the air by now," says Pawlowski. "We're optimistic that in the latter part of this year or early 2007 we'll launch this airline.