Virgin Atlantic

## What is Virgin Atlantic

**Virgin Atlantic**, a trading name of **Virgin Atlantic Airways Limited** and **Virgin Atlantic International Limited**, is a British airline with its head office in Crawley, England. The airline was established in 1984 as *British Atlantic Airways*, and was originally planned by its co-founders Randolph Fields and Alan Hellary to fly between London and the Falkland Islands. Soon after changing the name to Virgin Atlantic Airways, Fields sold his shares in the company after disagreements with Sir Richard Branson over the management of the company. The maiden flight from Gatwick Airport to Newark Liberty International Airport took place on 22 June 1984.

Virgin Atlantic uses a mixed fleet of Airbus and Boeing wide-body aircraft and operates to destinations in North America, the Caribbean, Africa, the Middle East and Asia from its main bases in London (Heathrow and Gatwick), and its secondary base at Manchester. The airline also operates seasonal flights from Glasgow and Belfast. Virgin Atlantic aircraft consist of three cabins: Economy, Premium (formerly Premium economy)[7] and Upper Class (business).

## Early days

Virgin Atlantic has its origins in a joint endeavour by Randolph Fields, an American-born lawyer, and Alan Hellary, a former chief pilot for British private airline Laker Airways. Following the collapse of Laker Airways in 1982, Field and Hellary decided to establish a new company, initially named *British Atlantic Airways*, as a successor.[12] Reportedly, Fields had formed a concept for an airline that would operate between London and the Falkland Islands during June 1982, when the Falklands War had just finished.

## Fleet Notes

Virgin Atlantic uses a mixed fleet of Airbus and Boeing aircraft. The airline's Airbus A330-200s are based at London Gatwick and Manchester airports and operate routes to the United States and the Caribbean, with seasonal routes to Orlando International Airport offered from Glasgow and Belfast International Airport using the Boeing 747. They have recently retired their Boeing 747s.The airline's Airbus A330-300s, A350-1000s and Boeing 787-9s are used interchangeably on routes from London's Heathrow Airport.

In August 2002, Virgin became the first airline to operate the Airbus A340-600.

On 27 September 2006, Richard Branson announced plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by cutting aircraft weight and fuel consumption. There was also an experiment in 2007 in partnership with Boeing to have aircraft towed to the runway to save fuel, as a potential change to future operational procedures.[100] Virgin also volunteered a Boeing 747 for a test of biofuels in February 2008. The aircraft flew without passengers from Heathrow to Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, with 20% of the power for one engine provided by plant-based biofuel. Virgin said that it expected to use algae-based biofuels in the future.

Virgin Atlantic took delivery of its first Boeing 787-9 in October 2014, becoming the first European airline to fly the variant.[102] Virgin's order was first announced on 24 April 2007, and is for a total of 17 aircraft, with options on five more. The exercised options will replace the Heathrow-based 747 fleet during 2015 and 2016. Virgin Atlantic had also ordered six Airbus A380-800 aircraft, with options on a further six, delivery initially due in 2006. This order was officially cancelled in March 2018, with deposits transferred to A330 and A350 aircraft orders.

The older Airbus A340-300 aircraft were withdrawn from service in April 2015, as rising costs had made it less economical to run the type. Virgin had begun to replace the A340-300 on routes with the two-engine A330-300 and 787-9. The final Virgin Atlantic A340-300 flight was made on 9 April, landing at Heathrow early on 10 April. Eight A340-600s remained in service.

At the 2019 Paris Air Show the airline signed a deal for up to 20 Airbus A330-900neo aircraft making it the first UK customer for the aircraft. Eight aircraft were planned to come directly from Airbus, six from Air Lease Corporation, and the airline has options on a further six aircraft. They will replace older Airbus A330-200s and -300s[115] with deliveries expected from September 2021 to 2024.[116]

In July 2019, Virgin Atlantic initially announced the retirement of its remaining Airbus A340-600s by November 2019, however in September 2019 had extended the A340-600's service to December 2019, while the airline's Boeing 787 aircraft undergo further repairs on their Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines.[117][118] The retirement date for the A340-600 was subsequently postponed after several changes in date to May 2020, before the type was ultimately retired early on 9 March 2020, with the final scheduled A340-600 service taking place the day prior from Lagos to London Heathrow.[119][120][121][122]

The carrier took delivery of its first Airbus A350-1000 aircraft in August 2019.

Virgin Atlantic’s management team announced the early retirement of the 7 remaining Boeing 747-400 aircraft from the fleet on 5 May 2020 due to COVID-19.