Virgin Atlantic

• London - Heathrow
• London -Gatwick

Virgin Atlantic Airways is a British airline based in Crawley and bases at London Heathrow and London Gatwick. It is 51 % of the Virgin Group and 49% by Delta Air Lines.

• 2.1 route network
• 2.2 Code Sharing

History

Founding and first years

Virgin Atlantic was founded in 1984, on 22 June of the same year took the first flight from London Gatwick to Newark with a leased Boeing 747-200 with the registration G- VIRG instead.

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

The airline had in their past been numerous court also conflicts with British Airways. Virgin Atlantic took over as British Airways announced in 1997 to remove the Union Jack, the British flag, of their aircraft, this. Their aircraft Since then emblazoned on the aircraft Virgin Atlantic the slogan "Britain 's Flag Carrier".

Virgin Atlantic was the first airline in Europe that offered a premium economy class as the product between business and economy class and performed the first in the meantime by several airlines ( Cathay Pacific, Air New Zealand and Air Canada ) Applied " herringbone configuration " in the Business class ( Upper Class on Virgin Atlantic ) is a - this allowed by a diagonal seat assembly every passenger direct aisle access.

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

Development since 2010

In January 2010, Virgin Atlantic announced an existing order for six Airbus A340 -600 by an order for six Airbus A330 -300 to replace. Furthermore leased four additional A330 -300 from 2011. The first delivery was finally beginning April 2011.

In July 2010, Virgin Atlantic before a new corporate design, which includes, among other things, a revised livery of the aircraft. In 2010, about 5.3 million passengers, making it is the eighth largest UK airline by number of passengers carried.

In Skytrax ranking the airline reached since mid- 2011, only three out of five stars, after it had previously been four out of five stars. As of November 2013, Virgin Atlantic, however, was re-evaluated with four stars.

In December 2012, Delta Air Lines took over the 49 - percent stake in Virgin Atlantic and Singapore Airlines for 360 million U.S. dollars to invest in the company.

For March 2013 Virgin Atlantic, which for some time exclusively offering long-haul flights, announced that the inclusion of a feeder route between Manchester and London Heathrow. Shortly before, the sister company Virgin Trains lost the license for intercity trains between these two cities. In December 2012, it was announced that Aer Lingus on behalf of Virgin Atlantic performs the domestic flights under the new brand name of Virgin Atlantic Little Red.

Destinations

Virgin Atlantic operates from its main base at London Heathrow from global long-haul flights to international cities through during intercontinental destinations are served by the other bases London -Gatwick, Manchester and Glasgow also seasonal. Since March 2013 connecting flights also available within the UK.

Route network

As of September 2013 the route network of Virgin Atlantic includes the following routes:

• From London Heathrow to Boston, Delhi, Dubai, Hong Kong, Johannesburg, Lagos, Los Angeles, Miami, Mumbai, New York City, Newark, San Francisco, Shanghai, Sydney (yet to 5 May 2014), Tokyo and Washington, DC seasonal and also to Cape Town, Chicago, and Vancouver and also at home to Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Manchester

• From London Gatwick to Antigua, Barbados, Cancun, Grenada, Havana, Las Vegas, Montego Bay, Orlando, St. Lucia and Tobago

• From Manchester to Barbados, Las Vegas and Orlando as well as domestically to London Heathrow

• Glasgow to Orlando seasonal

The shortest international route is the route from London to Dubai, the longest runs from London via Hong Kong to Sydney, but is set in May 2014. In the past, some routes have been set, including Accra, Kingston and Mauritius.

Code Sharing

Virgin Atlantic also maintains code-share agreements with several other airlines. These are currently Air China, Air New Zealand, All Nippon Airways, Cyprus Airways, Delta Air Lines, Jet Airways, Singapore Airlines, South African Airways, Transaero Airlines and its sister company Virgin Australia.

Fleet

As of October 2013, the fleet of 43 aircraft consists of Virgin Atlantic with a mean age of 9 years:

Originally exclusively of aircraft have been ordered with four engines, four-engine aircraft since being more suitable for one's own conviction for a reliable intercontinental air traffic. So you can find on the engines often labeled " 4 engines 4 long haul" ( "Four engines for the long haul "). Meanwhile, it has said goodbye to the order of several copies of the series Boeing 787 and Airbus A330 -300 of this philosophy. 1996-1999 they departed ever heard of this philosophy from than you, a Boeing 767 -300ER leased from Martinair. Furthermore, we already leased in earlier times, a Boeing 727, a Boeing 737-400 and Airbus A320 and A321 a few to offer a short-haul traffic can.

Trivia

• Virgin Atlantic was represented by product placement in the two James Bond films Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace, in the latter was also the owner Richard Branson in a brief cameo scene as seen in the background. In the previous films, however, the rival British Airways was regularly present.
• The airline is known and notorious for their sometimes provocative advertising. In recent years, among other slogans, " Mine's bigger than yours" were ( " Mine is bigger than yours " ) for the application of the Airbus A340 -600, which to date the longest passenger aircraft in the world, or "More experience than our name suggests " ( "More experience than our name suggests ") is used as an allusion to the ambiguity of the company name (Virgin Virgin = dt ).
• Virgin Atlantic also produces at least once a year very elaborate commercials for cinema and television in the UK. 2010, the video for example, was inspired by the style of the title sequences of the James Bond films, for the spot in 2009, an airport in 1984 was staged.
• On 24 February 2008, the Company completed a Boeing 747-400 test flight with biofuel instead of kerosene through. The flight was from London Heathrow Airport to Amsterdam and the engineers should provide important insights into the use of biofuels. Here one of the four engines on an auxiliary tank was successfully treated with biofuel. The use of biofuels in aviation represents a particular challenge because it must be ensured that the fuel remains liquid even at an altitude of 10,000 m and temperatures of below -60 ° C and constant combustion performance features.

Incidents

Virgin Atlantic recorded with Stand October 2013 so far neither notable incidents involving aircraft losses nor casualties.