On the planes front, I can't help but wonder if VX would be able to buy or lease additional planes prior to the 2020-ish arrival of their next major order (i.e. aside from the 10 planes due in the near future).

As to the model...yes, I think that makes sense. What you've mentioned about catastrophic devaluations likely, when combined with the rebounding economy, has driven them into profitability recently.

And as to Orlando...well, I guess my thought there is that for 1-2 flights a day VX doesn't need to peel much market share off. Orlando-New York comprises something like 8300 pax/day...VX doesn't need more than 2-3% market share to pack two daily flights on a regular basis, and they wouldn't need to add any airports to make it happen.

Of course...according to the FAA's report, VX was the lowest-fare carrier between DC and the Bay Area...and between PHL and the Bay Area. Apparently they had 12% of the PHL-San Francisco market (though in a number of other markets out there they've been climbing into the 20s...look at the Q1 Domestic Consumer Airfare Report...) before pulling out, which really does suggest that there's a good chance their withdrawal was more equipment-based than due to unprofitability (VX has apparently had a bunch of cases where they had to pick which of several routes would make more money).