Virgin Atlantic Airways

Virgin Atlantic Airways
IATA code :	VS
ICAO code :	VIR
Call sign :	VIRGIN
Founding:	1984
Seat:	Crawley , UK
Turnstile :	London Heathrow London-Gatwick (until 2020)
Home airport :	London Heathrow
Company form:	Limited
IATA prefix code :	932
Management:	Shai Weiss, CEO
Sales:	€ 2.8 billion
Passenger volume:	5.5 million (2012)
Frequent Flyer Program :	Flying Club
Fleet size:	42 (+ 22 orders)
Aims:	international
Website:	www.virgin-atlantic.com

Virgin Atlantic Airways is a British airline based in Crawley and based at London Heathrow Airport . It is owned 20% by the Virgin Group and 49% by Delta Air Lines .

history

Foundation and first years

Virgin Atlantic Boeing 747-100 in 1997

Virgin Atlantic Airways was originally founded in 1984 by Randolph Fields and Alan Hellary as British Atlantic Airways and renamed after Richard Branson took over the airline with the Virgin Group. On June 22, 1984 the first flight from London-Gatwick to Newark took place with a leased Boeing 747-100 with the registration G-VIRG .

1986 the company received two Boeing 747-200B with which the route London- Miami was taken. In 1991 Virgin Atlantic Airways also gained access to London Heathrow Airport and routes to Los Angeles, New York and Tokyo were added. In December 1993 a new Airbus A340-300 was delivered and from May 1994 a Boeing 747-400 .

In 1996 Virgin Express was founded as a subsidiary, which resulted from the takeover of the Belgian EuroBelgian Airlines.

In December 1999, 49 percent of Virgin Atlantic was sold to Singapore Airlines for £ 600 million .

The airline has already had numerous legal disputes with British Airways in the past . Virgin Atlantic took over when British Airways announced in 1997 that it would remove the Union Jack , the British flag, from its aircraft and took it from its aircraft. Since then, the slogan "Britain's Flag Carrier " has been emblazoned on the Virgin Atlantic aircraft .

Virgin Atlantic was the first airline in Europe to a premium economy offering class as the product between business and economy class and led the first in the meantime by several airlines (including Cathay Pacific , Air New Zealand and Air Canada applied) " Herringbone configuration ” in the business class ( upper class for Virgin Atlantic) - this allows every passenger direct access to the aisle thanks to a diagonal seating arrangement.

Virgin Atlantic was named the airline with the best in-flight entertainment system in 2003.

In July 2007, the United States Department of Justice fined Virgin Atlantic $ 200 million. The reason for this are illegal agreements regarding fuel surcharges between Virgin and competitor British Airways from August 2004 to January 2006. In contrast to British Airways, Virgin was luckier because the British antitrust authorities refrained from fining Virgin Atlantic, but BA was fined 180 million euros. The United States Department of Justice also fined British Airways another $ 300 million. BA announced prior to the ruling that £ 350 million in fines had already been settled.

Development since 2010

Virgin Atlantic headquarters in Crawley , West Sussex

From 2013 to 2015, Aer Lingus operated Airbus A320-200 for Virgin Atlantic on domestic flights

In January 2010, Virgin Atlantic announced that it would replace an existing order for six Airbus A340-600s with an order for six Airbus 330-300s . Furthermore, four additional A330-300s were leased from 2011 . The first delivery finally took place in early April 2011.

In July 2010, Virgin Atlantic presented a new corporate design that included a revised paint job for the aircraft. In 2010 it carried around 5.3 million passengers, making it the eighth largest British airline by number of passengers carried.

In the Skytrax ranking, the airline has only achieved three out of five stars since mid-2011, after previously four out of five stars. As of November 2013, Virgin Atlantic was again rated with four stars.

In December 2012, Delta Air Lines took over the 49 percent stake in Virgin Atlantic from Singapore Airlines and invested 360 million US dollars in the company.

For March 2013, Virgin Atlantic, which for some time only offered long-haul flights, announced the addition of a feeder route between Manchester and London Heathrow. Shortly before, the sister company Virgin Trains lost the concession for the intercity trains between these two cities. In December 2012 it was announced that Aer Lingus would operate the domestic flights on behalf of Virgin Atlantic under the new brand name Virgin Atlantic Little Red . On October 6, 2014 it was announced that all domestic flights - to Manchester, Aberdeen and Edinburgh - will be stopped again in 2015. The load factor is below 40 percent and the transfer traffic to and from long-haul flights also fell short of expectations. The last domestic flight was finally carried out on September 26, 2015, and the Airbus A320-200s in use were returned to Aer Lingus.

In September 2014, Virgin Atlantic was one of the first airlines in the world to receive its first Boeing 787-9 , named “Birthday Girl” , which was initially used on the east coast of the USA.

As of late October 2014, Virgin Atlantic took on one of three of their daily flights from London to Atlanta as part of the partnership with co-owner Delta Air Lines , while Delta took over one of Virgin's two daily flights to Los Angeles in return . In general, they want to concentrate more on the profitable routes to the USA , while the connections to Mumbai and Tokyo , for example, have been discontinued.

In fiscal 2014, Virgin Atlantic posted a profit of £ 14.4 million for the first time since 2011, after posting a loss of over £ 50 million in 2013.

On March 29, 2015, Virgin Atlantic decommissioned its last Airbus A340-300 , which recently only operated between London Heathrow and Shanghai, and replaced it with another Boeing 787-9. For the 2016 summer flight schedule, Virgin Atlantic also withdrew its Boeing 747-400 from London Heathrow, which from then on will only be used for the holiday routes from London Gatwick, Manchester and Glasgow.

In July 2015, Virgin Atlantic announced that it would cut 500 jobs to create more efficient management and administrative structures.

In March 2018, Virgin Atlantic canceled an order for six Airbus A380-800s that had existed since 2006 and the delivery of which had been postponed several times.

The Connect Airways consortium wanted to take over Flybe in 2019 . Virgin Atlantic had been looking for a feeder company for its long-haul brand for years, the Flybe brand was to be abandoned in favor of Virgin. However, Flybe declared bankruptcy in March 2020 and ceased operations.

In May 2020, Virgin Atlantic announced that it would lay off 3,000 employees and cease operations at Gatwick Airport due to problems during the COVID-19 pandemic .

On August 4, 2020, Virgin Atlantic filed for Chapter 15 bankruptcy protection in the United States as part of its recapitalization program.

Destinations

Bases and own flights

Countries served by Virgin Atlantic

Great Britain

Destinations

Virgin Atlantic operates long-haul flights to international metropolises from its main base in London-Heathrow , while other bases in London-Gatwick , Manchester and, seasonally, Glasgow and Belfast also serve intercontinental holiday destinations.

Code sharing

Virgin Atlantic also has codeshare agreements with several other airlines. These are currently Air China , Air New Zealand , All Nippon Airways , Delta Air Lines , Singapore Airlines , South African Airways and the sister company Virgin Australia .

fleet

Virgin Atlantic Airbus A330-300

Virgin Atlantic Boeing 787-9

As of April 2020, the Virgin Atlantic fleet consists of 42 aircraft with an average age of 8.9 years:

Aircraft type	number	ordered	Remarks	Seats ( Business / Eco + / Eco )	Average age (April 2020)
Airbus A330-200	4th		were taken over by Air Berlin	280 (14/48/214)	19.0 years
Airbus A330-300	10			266 (33/48/185)	8.5 years
Airbus A330-900neo		14th	+ 6 options; Replacement for A330-200 / 300; Delivery from 2021	- open -
Airbus A350-1000	4th	8th	Planned as replacement for 747-400; first delivery in August 2019; +4 options	335 (44/56/235)	0.8 years
Boeing 747-400	7th		Not used since May 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic , phased out in the same month.	455 (14/66/375)	19.9 years
Boeing 787-9	17th		+ 6 options; first delivery was on October 28, 2014; one inactive	264 (31/35/198)	4.2 years
total	42	22nd			8.9 years

Originally, only aircraft types with four engines were ordered, as four-engine aircraft were believed to be better suited for reliable intercontinental air traffic. The words “4 engines 4 long haul ” (“four engines for long haul”) are often found on the engines . In the meantime, by ordering several units of the Boeing 787 and Airbus A330-300 series, this philosophy has been abandoned. Between 1996 and 1999 this philosophy was deviated from when a Boeing 767-300ER was leased from Martinair . Furthermore, a Boeing 727 , a Boeing 737-400 and some Airbus A320 and A321s were already leased in order to be able to offer short-haul traffic. All Airbus A340-300s and Airbus A340-600s have now also left the fleet.

service

Cabins

The Virgin Atlantic Business Class, called Upper Class , on board an Airbus A340-600

A Club House - Lounge Virgin Atlantic in San Francisco

Virgin Atlantic's long-haul fleet has three cabin classes: Economy, Premium Economy and Business Class called Upper Class . All three have personal in-flight entertainment at every seat, the business class is equipped with flat beds arranged in a “Herringbone” row arrangement and has a bar area.

Lounges

Virgin Atlantic operates ten of its own airport lounges called “Clubhouse” in London-Heathrow, London-Gatwick, New York-JFK , Newark , Boston , Washington-Dulles , San Francisco , Los Angeles , Johannesburg and Hong Kong . These are accessible to upper class passengers and holders of the highest frequent flyer status of Virgin Atlantic, as well as some guests of other airlines.

Trivia

• Virgin Atlantic was represented by product placement in the two James Bond films Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace , the latter also featuring owner Richard Branson in a brief scene as a cameo in the background. In the previous films, however, the competitor British Airways was regularly present.
• The airline is known and notorious for its sometimes provocative advertising. In recent years, among other things, the slogans "Mine's bigger than yours" ("Mine is bigger than yours") to advertise the Airbus A340-600, the longest passenger aircraft in the world to date, or "More experience than our name suggests" ( "More experience than our name promises") as an allusion to the ambiguity of the company name (Virgin = German Jungfrau ).
• Virgin Atlantic also produces high-quality commercials for cinemas and television in the UK at least once a year. In 2010, for example, the video was based on the style of the title sequences of the James Bond films, for the 2009 spot an airport was staged in 1984.
• On February 24, 2008, the company carried out a test flight with a Boeing 747-400 using biofuel instead of kerosene . The flight took place from London 's Heathrow Airport to Amsterdam and was intended to provide the engineers with important knowledge about the use of biofuels. One of the four engines was successfully supplied with biofuel via an additional tank. The use of biofuel in aviation poses a particular challenge, as it must be ensured that the fuel remains liquid and offers constant combustion performance even at an altitude of over 10,000 meters and temperatures below −60 ° C.

See also

• List of airlines
• Virgin Group

Web links

Commons : Virgin Atlantic  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Website of Virgin Atlantic (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Virgin Atlantic Extends Loss . In: Handelsblatt . May 16, 2013 ( online [accessed May 30, 2013]).
2. ↑ - Virgin Atlantic Airways ltd company data ( Memento of the original dated August 16, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English) accessed on August 16, 2016. 
3. ^ Tom Buerkle: More Heathrow Competition for British Airways . Virgin Atlantic Links Up With Singapore Airlines. In: The New York Times . December 21, 1999 ( online [accessed June 4, 2013]).
4. ↑ telegraph.co.uk - British Airways and Virgin Atlantic to pay $ 200m in fuel cartel lawsuit, February 16, 2008
5. ↑ BBC News - BA's price-fix fine reaches £ 270m, August 1, 2007 .
6. ↑ Virgin Atlantic Airways orders ten Airbus A330-300s . In: aero.de . January 11, 2010 ( online [accessed May 30, 2013]).
7. ↑ Virgin Atlantic puts first Airbus A330-300 into service . In: aero.de . April 5, 2011 ( online [accessed May 30, 2013]).
8. ↑ airliners.de - Virgin Atlantic with a new brand identity, accessed on July 29, 2010.
9. ↑ caa.co.uk - All Services 2010 ( Memento of the original from December 7, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF file, English). 
10. ↑ airlinequality.com - The 4 Star Airline Rating, accessed on November 19, 2013.
11. ↑ news.sky.com - Virgin Atlantic Takes On BA With Delta Deal.Retrieved December 11, 2012.
12. ↑ bbc.co.uk - Virgin Atlantic to fly between Heathrow and Manchester (English), accessed on August 21, 2012.
13. ↑ virgin-atlantic.com - Paint the skies Little Red (English) accessed on March 14, 2013.
14. ↑ aerotelegraph.com - Virgin fails domestically accessed on October 7, 2014.
15. ↑ Flugrevue.de - Virgin Atlantic receives first 787-9 in September accessed on June 23, 2014.
16. ↑ news.delta.com - Delta, Virgin Atlantic Unveil New Schedule Between London Heathrow and Atlanta and Los Angeles (English), accessed on May 21, 2014.
17. ↑ wsj.com - Virgin Atlantic to Increase Flights to US (English). Retrieved September 3, 2014.
18. ↑ Bloomberg News, aero.de: Delta helps Virgin back into the black. In: aero.de. Aviation Media & IT GmbH, March 11, 2015, accessed on March 14, 2015 . 
19. ↑ ch-aviation - Virgin Atlantic schedules last A340-300 flight for March 29 (English) accessed on February 23, 2015.
20. ↑ airlineroute.net - Virgin Atlantic S16 Boeing 747-400 Operations as of 19MAY15 (English) accessed on May 19, 2015.
21. ↑ bbc.com - Virgin Atlantic airline to cut 500 jobs.Retrieved June 30, 2015.
22. ↑ aerotelegraph.com - Definitive love-out between Virgin and A380 March 7, 2018.
23. ↑ Flybe Union Demands Answers On Reports Of Impending Collapse , Aviationweek, January 13, 2020
24. ↑ Virgin consortium may take over Flybe under certain conditions. In: Airliners. July 10, 2019, accessed July 16, 2019 . 
25. ↑ British regional airline Flybe ceases operations. In: Spiegel online. March 5, 2020, accessed on March 5, 2020 (DPA notification). 
26. ^ Coronavirus: Virgin Atlantic to cut 3,000 jobs and quit Gatwick. In: bbc.com. May 5, 2020, accessed on August 5, 2020 . 
27. ^ Virgin Atlantic files for bankruptcy in the US. In: weny.com. August 4, 2020, accessed on August 5, 2020 . 
28. ↑ virgin-atlantic.com - Flight Times (English) accessed on September 3, 2013.
29. ↑ virgin-atlantic.com - Our codeshare partner airlines (English) accessed on September 3, 2013.
30. ↑ ^{a b c d} Virgin Atlantic Airways Fleet Details and History. In: planespotters.net. April 17, 2020, accessed on April 18, 2020 . 
31. ↑ Airbus - Orders & deliveries (English), accessed on October 6, 2017.
32. ↑ Boeing - Orders and Deliveries , accessed October 6, 2017.
33. ↑ Ch-aviation - Virgin Atlantic , accessed October 6, 2017.
34. ↑ Air Show: The orders for the Paris Air Show 2019. In: aeroTELEGRAPH. June 20, 2019, accessed on June 20, 2019 (Swiss Standard German). 
35. ↑ Jumbo jets: Virgin Atlantic begins saying goodbye to the Boeing 747. In: aeroTELEGRAPH. April 16, 2019, accessed on April 16, 2019 (German). 
36. ↑ Virgin Atlantic retires the Boeing 747. May 10, 2020, accessed May 10, 2020 . 
37. ↑ bloomberg.com - Branson's Virgin Atlantic Considers Adding Stretched 787 (English) May 7, 2014.
38. ↑ aero.de - Virgin Atlantic receives first 787-9 in September, accessed on June 23, 2014.
39. ↑ virgin-atlantic.com - Virgin experience (English) accessed on May 19, 2015.
40. ↑ ^{a b} virgin-atlantic.com - Our Clubhouses (English) accessed on May 19, 2015.
41. ↑ klonblog.com - Virgin Atlantic - Airline advertising à la James Bond accessed on October 2, 2010.
42. ↑ YouTube - Virgin America - Virgin Atlantic: 25 years, Still Red Hot (English). Retrieved March 17, 2009.
43. ↑ Airline in first biofuel flight. BBC , February 24, 2008, accessed November 27, 2010 . 
44. ↑ Virgin boss wants 747 to fly with biofuel. heise online , January 14, 2008, accessed on November 27, 2010 .