Virgin Atlantic Airways

A former Virgin Atlantic Boeing 747-400

Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd. (known as Virgin Atlantic) is an airline that is based in the United Kingdom. Virgin Atlantic is owned by 2 companies, Virgin Group and Delta Air Lines. Virgin Atlantic goes from its main hubs at London Heathrow Airport and London Gatwick Airport to many places like the USA, the Caribbean, Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Australia. More than 75% of Virgin Atlantic's flights go/come to London Heathrow Airport. The rest mostly fly from Manchester Airport. Virgin flies to 31 cities. These are either in Africa, Asia, Europe, the United States or the Caribbean.

It was founded by British businessman Sir Richard Branson in the 1980s. Now, it is 51% owned by Delta Air Lines. However, the Virgin Group still have a 49% stake in the airline.

Partners

Virgin Atlantic has partners. Here is a list of them:

• Air China
• Air New Zealand
• All Nippon Airways
• Delta Air Lines
• Jet Airways
• Singapore Airlines

Planes

Virgin had Boeing 747s like this in the 1980s

Virgin Atlantic owns 10 Airbus A330 planes, 4 Airbus A330neo planes, 17 Boeing 787 planes and 11 Airbus A350 planes. It used to have an order for 6 Airbus A380 planes but were later cancelled because of repeated cancellations.

Virgin Atlantic used to have some other aircraft too. It used to own 6 Airbus A320s, 3 Airbus A321s, 1 Boeing 747-100, 22 Boeing 747-200s, 4 Airbus A330-200s, 30 Airbus A340s, 13 Boeing 747-400s and 1 Boeing 767-300ER being wet leased from Martinair. Virgin Atlantic’s first plane was a Boeing 747-200.

Inside the planes

Virgin Atlantic uses three different classes on their planes: Economy, Premium Economy and Upper Class.

Economy

Economy class is the standard class on Virgin Atlantic aircraft. It is the cheapest part of the plane to travel in. Passengers usually get a free meal, some drinks and a bag with gifts in like a toothbrush. The seats in this class have a maximum pitch of 31 inches, but this depends on what plane the passenger goes in.

Premium Economy

Passengers that use Premium Economy have their own check-in area. They get to get on the plane before Economy passengers and a drink before the flight. They get a better seat and a special cabin crew. The seat it wider and more distance from the seat in front of it.

In November 2006, Virgin made a new seat. It is wider than the old one and has a plug for laptops. It is being put on all planes and now, all Airbus A340s and all Boeing 747s that fly from London Heathrow Airport have the new seats.

Upper Class

Upper Class is the name for Virgin Atlantic's business class. They do not have a first class service. Virgin says the seats are the biggest lie flat beds on any business class (it is 202 cm long and 84 cm wide), but Air Canada and Singapore Airlines have said this too. The seats have plugs for laptops and iPods.

The Virgin Clubhouse at San Francisco Airport, used by Upper Class passengers

Upper Class passengers can also have their own chauffeur, drive-thru check-in, their own security points at some airports, access to the Virgin Clubhouse (a special VIP area, with a bar and seats), a larger menu for in-flight meals and a bar that passengers can stand up or sit down at in flight.

In-flight Entertainment

All the seats on all the aircraft have screens in the back of the seats to provide entertainment for passengers. Most planes have a newer system where the passengers can choose what they want to watch called V:Port. Older systems called "Odyssey" and "Super Nova" just offer different channels for the passengers to pick from. The screens on the older systems are also smaller. Virgin was among the first airlines to have games on its personal screens.

Related pages

• Virgin Galactic
• Virgin Trains

Other Virgin Airlines

• Virgin Australia
• Virgin America
• Virgin Blue
• Virgin Express
• Virgin Samoa
• Virgin Sun Airlines