Virgin Atlantic is the UK's second largest long-haul carrier of passengers and freight, serving both the business and leisure markets. Primarily based at both London's Heathrow and Gatwick Airports, services are also flown from Manchester.

Routes serve eight US cities and eight Caribbean Islands, in addition to three African cities, six in Asia and Sydney, Australia. Virgin Atlantic's sister companies include Virgin Nigeria, Virgin America, Virgin Blue and V Australia.

History

Virgin commenced services in 1984, flying between London Gatwick Airport and Newark Liberty International Airport with a Boeing 747.

The Virgin Cargo and Virgin Holidays subsidiaries were established in October 1985 and in May 1988 the airline launched charter services to Orlando, Florida.

In 1991 the UK Civil Aviation Authority approved Virgin Atlantic operations from London Heathrow, and services to Los Angeles, New York (JFK), and Tokyo were launched.

The Virgin Freeway frequent flyer program was launched in the UK in 1990 and later expanded to the US. In 1993 a new franchise service launched from Gatwick to Athens. The new Premium Economy brand replaced Mid Class in 1994. Virgin launched services to St. Lucia and Barbados in 1998. Leisure airline subsidiary Virgin Sun was launched in May 1994, offering flights to 13 Mediterranean destinations.

In June 2007, Virgin Atlantic announced that it planned to introduce dedicated business class services between European and US destinations before the end of 2008.

Fleet

• 25x Airbus A340
• 13x Boeing 747

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