July 20 (Bloomberg) -- JetBlue Airways Corp. is matching fares on the routes it will share with start-up Virgin America Inc., the low-fare carrier partly owned by U.K. billionaire Richard Branson.

JetBlue is offering $278 round trips between its New York base and the six airports it serves around Los Angeles and San Francisco, spokesman Sebastian White said today, a day after Virgin America started selling tickets.

The new fares confirmed predictions by analysts including Jamie Baker of JPMorgan Chase & Co. that Virgin America would spur price competition with New York-based JetBlue. Like JetBlue, Virgin America will feature leather seats and seat-back entertainment systems on its planes when flights begin Aug. 8.

JetBlue, which flies from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, also matched Virgin America's fares between Los Angeles and San Francisco, and between Washington and the two California cities.

Southwest Airlines Co., the world's biggest discount carrier, said it matched fares on one California route and found its tickets were cheaper than Burlingame, California-based Virgin America's for other flights.

``We'll keep a very close eye on them and compete vigorously,'' said Chris Mainz, a spokesman for Dallas-based Southwest. ``For the most part, you'll find our fares are very competitive if not, in fact, lower.''

Virgin America sold ``hundreds of thousands of dollars'' in tickets yesterday, even as computer hackers shut down its Web site, spokesman Gareth Edmondson-Jones said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Susanna Ray in Chicago at sray7@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: July 20, 2007 16:22 EDT