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Virgin
Atlantic is the second largest long haul airline in the
UK and the third largest European carrier over the North Atlantic.
Their route network has grown rapidly to include destinations
in the US, Caribbean, Far East, India, Australia and Africa,
and they have won virtually every award the industry has to
offer, including:
- Best Long Haul Business Airline
2004
- Best Transatlantic Airline 2004
Virgin
Atlantic are truly a major British success story to be
proud of. They have quickly gone from their first leased jumbo,
to being the UK's second largest long haul airline!
History:
Since it was founded almost twenty-one years ago, Virgin
Atlantic Airways has become Britain’s second largest
airline serving the world’s major cities. Virgin
Atlantic is the quintessential Virgin story. It has every
ingredient: the small newcomer taking on the giant and complacent
establishment, the people’s champion introducing better
service and lower costs for passengers with a reputation for
quality and innovative product development.
Virgin
Atlantic was developed as an offshoot of Richard Branson’s
Virgin Group, which was better known at the time as a leading
light in the world of pop and rock music. In early 1984, Branson
was surprised to be contacted by an Anglo-US lawyer called
Randolph Fields with a proposal for an involvement in a new
airline called British Atlantic. Fields originally planned
to operate a 747 service to New York’s JFK airport in
an all business configuration – an idea that was denied
to him by British licensing authorities. Recognising that,
like the music business, aviation was a consumer led industry,
and tired of the conveyor belt attitude to passengers, Branson
decided it was time for Virgin to diversify. His fellow directors
thought he was mad – particularly when he announced the
new airline would begin operating in just over three months.
Never one to take ‘no’
for an answer, Branson’s infectious enthusiasm ensured
that staff were hired, an aircraft was found, licences were
obtained and the uniforms were designed. It was not easy,
especially when incidents such as an engine failure on the
eve of the airline’s maiden flight meant that Branson
started getting premature grey hairs! On 22 June 1984 Virgin’s
inaugural flight to Newark took place, a flight filled with
friends, celebrities and the media. The airline’s aim
was simple:
“To provide the
highest quality innovative service at excellent value for
money for all classes of air travellers”.
Hugely popular, Virgin
Atlantic has won top business, consumer and trade awards
from around the world. The airline has pioneered a range of
innovations setting new standards of service. Despite Virgin
Atlantic’s growth the service still remains customer
driven with an emphasis on value for money, quality, fun and
innovation. From those early days the airline has gone from
strength to strength. Now based at both London’s Gatwick
and Heathrow airports, it operates longhaul services from
Heathrow to New York (Newark and JFK), Los Angeles, San Francisco,
Washington, Boston, Miami, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Johannesburg,
Cape Town, Shanghai, Delhi, Mumbai and Lagos. Virgin also
operates services from Gatwick to Orlando, Barbados, St Lucia,
Antigua, Las Vegas, Grenada, Tobago and Port Harcourt. Virgin
Atlantic also operates a service from Manchester to Orlando.
On 20 December 1999 Richard
Branson signed an agreement to sell a 49% stake of Virgin
Atlantic to Singapore Airlines to form a unique global
partnership. The cost of the transaction to Singapore Airlines
was £600.25 million, which included a capital injection
of £49 million and values Virgin
Atlantic at a minimum of £1.225billion. The deal
was finalised in early 2000. On July 16 2003 came the launch
of Virgin Atlantic’s revolutionary new Upper Class ‘Suite’,
the longest and most comfortable flat bed and seat in the
airline industry. The Upper Class Suite has won eight of the
most prestigious designs awards including a Yellow Pencil
award for product design and an IDEA Gold Award for Transport
Design.
On 5 August 2004 the airline
announced that it had reached an agreement to take delivery
of 13 new A340-600 aircraft with options for a further 13
in a deal worth in excess of $5.5bn. Virgin
Atlantic has also ordered six Airbus A380 aircraft and
will take delivery of these from spring 2008. The long awaited
inaugural flight from Hong Kong to Sydney departed on the
7 December 2004 and new services between London Heathrow and
Mumbai commenced on 27 March 2005. New services between London
Gatwick and Havana and Nassau were launched in July 2005.
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