Virgin Atlantic Airways Article Index for
Virgin 		Website Links For
Virgin 		 

Information About

Virgin Atlantic Airways
  CATEGORIES ABOUT VIRGIN ATLANTIC AIRWAYS
   
airlines of the united kingdom
   
airlines established in 1984
   
british brands
   
virgin group
   
atlantic
   
association of european airlines
   
SHOPPER'S DELIGHT
 
Shop For:  
Department
Price Minimum:
Price Maximum:
      



  Logo Virgin Atlanticsvg
  Logo Size 240px
  Fleet Size 33
  Destinations 30
  IATA VS
  ICAO VIR
  Callsign Virgin
  Parent Virgin Group
  Founded 1984
  Headquarters Crawley , England , United Kingdom
  Key People Richard Branson ( Chairman ), Steve Ridgway (Chief Executive Officer)
  Hubs London Heathrow Airport <br> London Gatwick Airport
  Focus Cities Manchester International Airport
  Frequent Flyer Flying Club
  Lounge Clubhouse
  Alliance
  Website http://wwwvirgin-atlanticcom


Virgin Atlantic Airways , usually referred to as '''Virgin Atlantic''', is one of the airlines of Richard Branson 's Virgin Group , operating long-haul routes between London and North America , the Caribbean , Africa , Asia and Australia . Its main base is London Heathrow (LHR), with a hub at London Gatwick (LGW).


HISTORY

Virgin's predecessor, British Atlantic Airways, operated flights from the UK to the Falkland Islands starting in 1982 . Branson purchased the airline in 1984 and began flights to North America on June 22 , 1984 , using a single Boeing 747-200 on scheduled service between London Gatwick and Newark , taking over the small market share of Freddie Laker 's failed " Skytrain " operation.


"Dirty tricks"

Virgin has always been a competitor and rival of British Airways . In January 1991 the UK Civil Aviation Authority opened the door for Virgin to operate from Heathrow and services were started from July 1991, one of the major causes of the BA "dirty tricks" campaign against Virgin. In 1992 BA's PA director David Burnside published an article in ''BA News'' which argued that Branson protestations against British Airways were merely for publicity. Branson sued British Airways for libel. BA settled out of court when its lawyers unearthed evidence of the extraordinary lengths the company went to "kill off" Virgin. BA was faced with a legal bill of up to £3m, damages to Sir Richard of £500,000 and a further £110,000 to his airline. Branson divided his £500,000 amongst his staff in the so-called "BA bonus", each receiving £166.

In the 1990s, Virgin Atlantic jets were painted with the words "No-Way BA/AA" in opposition to the attempted merger between British Airways and American Airlines . In 1997 , following British Airways' announcement that it was to remove the Union Jack from its tailfins in favour of World Images , Virgin took advantage of the controversy provoked by introducing a union flag design on the winglets of its aircraft, and changed the red dress on the "Scarlet Lady" on the nose of its aircraft to the union flag also. Relations with British Airways improved considerably (though rivalry continued) with the arrival of Rod Eddington as BA CEO. Eddington replaced Robert Ayling , who was a key player in the dirty tricks affair.

49% of Virgin Atlantic was sold to Singapore Airlines in December 1999 for £600.25 million.

In August 2002 , Virgin became the first airline to begin flights with the Airbus A340-600 . Rolls-Royce have won all recent engine competitions for Virgin aircraft; the company's Trent-500's will power the A340s and the Trent 900 will power A380s on order.


INCIDENTS AND ACCIDENTS

On 19 June 1984 , during the final CAA test flight before full licensing, an engine caught fire due to bird ingestion. The aircraft landed safely.

On June 1 , 1996 , flight VS007 from London to Los Angeles made an emergency landing at Iqaluit after a passenger had a heart attack. One of the 747's engines hit a fuel pump on the tarmac as it was taxiing, causing serious damage to the aircraft and a fuel spill. The aircraft had its engines repaired and left four days after the accident.

On 5 November 1997 , after numerous attempts to shake the jammed main landing gear of Airbus A340 -300 G-VSKY failed, the aircraft made an emergency landing at London Heathrow Airport . The aircraft and the runway were damaged as the landing gear collapsed. The aircraft was evacuated safely causing only minor injuries.

On 8 February 2005 , onboard an Airbus A340 -600 aircraft en route from Hong Kong to London , the fuel control computer system caused a loss of automatic fuel transfer between tanks. The left outboard engine lost power, and shortly after the right outboard engine also began to falter until the crew began crossfeeding fuel manually. The crew diverted to Amsterdam , where a safe landing was made (ref: Flight International, July 2005).


FLYING WITH VIRGIN


The airline has three classes of service: Economy, Premium Economy and Upper Class. Premium Economy provides a separate check-in, a larger seat with more leg room than Economy, and a welcome glass of champagne. Virgin Atlantic terms its business-class fare offering "Upper Class". Upper Class passengers can request complimentary limousine pick-up and drop-off at the airport, and at their destination, although the limousine is not available to those who purchase the cheaper "Z" coded Upper Class fare. At the airport, Upper Class passengers can use Virgin's clubhouse lounge. On board and in the Heathrow and Gatwick clubhouses, passengers can avail themselves of massage services. Unlike some international carriers, Virgin gives free personal amenity kits, including toothbrush, pen, earplugs and eyemask, to passengers in all three classes. Virgin also pioneered seat-back personal TVs in all classes, and have claimed for some time to be upgrading all their aircraft to an Audio/Video on Demand (AVOD) system called V:Port.

The V:Port systems currently in use offer a choice of approximately 50 full length feature films, 60 audio CDs, and around 200 hours of television shows. Also featured are video games, some of which can be played competitively against other passengers.


DESTINATIONS

See Also: Virgin Atlantic destinations


Just over half of Virgin's flights leave from London Heathrow , with the remainder leaving from London Gatwick . There are also daily services to Orlando from Manchester International Airport and a once weekly service to Bridgetown (starting 13 November 2006) and St Lucia (starting 16 November 2006).


FLEET


Virgin Atlantic's Fleet consists of the following As Of March 2006 :


In November 2003 Virgin introduced the Upper Class Suite, which is the longest totally flat bed in Business Class. The Upper Class Suite is fitted on all Virgin's A340-600 and 747-400 aircraft. Of the A340-300 aircraft in the fleet, all except one have been fitted with the Upper Class Suite, with the last one to go in for a refit shortly. As of December 2005 , A340-300 G-VBUS is on wet-lease to Virgin Nigeria Airways and G-VSUN is listed to follow according to filings with the United States Department Of Transportation . 747s are used on all routes from Gatwick and Manchester. From Heathrow 747s are used on routes to New York, Los Angeles, Boston, Miami and San Francisco along with A340s which are also used for the remaining routes.

Source: {Link without Title}

The following aircraft are on order, and have had registrations assigned.


Virgin Atlantic has ordered 6 Airbus A380 aircraft with options on 6 more. The first delivery is expected to enter service in March 2008 and the aircraft will be used on services from London to Hong Kong, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Sydney and Tokyo. The option of using the A380 on charter services, eg Orlando, is being explored (ref: Airliner World, March 2005).

Virgin's aircraft are given female names such as "Ladybird", "Island Lady", and "Ruby Tuesday". Many are named after destinations on the Virgin route network, such as "Maiden Tokyo" and "California Girl". Virgin's fleet also has several tongue in cheek registrations, ''California Girl'' is G-V LAX , after Los Angeles International. ''Boston Belle'' is G-V JFK after Massachusetts' famous son, others include G-VIRG, G-VGIN and G-VXLG for a 747-400 (Ruby Tuesday).

The Virgin livery features a Pinup Girl near the nose of each aircraft called the "Scarlet Lady". She was originally painted by Alberto Vargas . Carrying a Union Jack in a form reminiscent of British Airways' traditional " Speedbird " logo, now she even has her own aircraft registration and name, an Airbus A340-600 registered G-VGAS and named "Varga Girl".

G-VAST, a Boeing 747-400 has featured in the BBC's Top Gear television show to be used to test the strength of cars in a dangerous crosswind.

The following aircraft have been in service for Virgin in the past:



VIRGIN'S SLOGANS


''Over the years, Virgin has adopted many clever slogans including:














EVENTS IN 2005

On August 15 , 2005 , Virgin Atlantic, which flies the Kangaroo Route between Australia and the UK via Hong Kong, denied it is in talks with part owner Singapore Airlines about extending its code sharing arrangements from Singapore to Sydney. Virgin Atlantic, 49% owned by Singapore Airlines, began flying between Sydney and the UK via Hong Kong in December 2004.

On July 14 , 2005 , Virgin Atlantic announced their plans to fly direct from London Heathrow to Dubai . The service will be operated by an Airbus A340 and will be fitted with Virgin Atlantic's award-winning Upper Class Suite. In addition to this route, Virgin Atlantic recently announced a new route from London Gatwick to Montego Bay , Jamaica in July next year, which will bring the airline's total number of destinations to twenty-eight.

To celebrate the airline's 21st birthday the flying lady was temporarily moved to the back of Boeing 747 "Birthday Girl".


FURTHER READING



SEE ALSO



EXTERNAL LINKS