Oh, sweet irony.

Citing reasons to get into the airline game, Sir Richard Branson of Virgin fame said, "the American airline industry is abysmal."

That may be true, sir, but it looks like not even Sir Richard's new venture is immune to, you know, reality.

Very first flight = delayed.

The flight, coming from New York, was supposed to arrive at SFO simultaneously with a flight from Los Angeles in a big, staged scene on twin runways. Always a flair for the dramatic with this guy.

We're not superstitious, but if we were we might think this an unfortunate beginning to a venture.

Today is launch day for Virgin America Airlines, which will call SFO its home base and try to compete on the basis of low fares and high service.