New airline to be headquartered in NN

NORFOLK, Va. (AP/WAVY) - PEOPLExpress has announced that it will be headquartered at Newport News-Williamsburg International Airport .

The announcement was made in a news conference Monday afternoon at the airport. According to a release, "low-cost service will be offered to other cities, such as Pittsburgh, PA, Providence, RI, West Palm Beach, FL and Newark, NJ..."

Michael Morisi, PEOPLExpress president, wouldn't get into many specifics about the flight routes, but he did say he plans for the airline to replace many of the routes that disappeared when AirTran merged with Southwest. He also said PEOPLExpress will add new routes and direct flights.

The announcement comes at a difficult time for the airline industry.

In the past decade, U.S. airlines have lost a combined $54.5 billion and failed to make money in seven of 10 years.

Morisi added PEOPLExpress will create 1,000 jobs over the next three years.

The airline was first in operation from 1981 until 1987. Morisi told WAVY.com this is a completely different airline, but it is using the name of PEOPLExpress. He said the airline will be low-fare, 40 percent lower than other airlines and passengers will fly on full-sized jets.

Click here to check out PEOPLExpress .