Virgin Atlantic Airways usually referred to as Virgin Atlantic, is one of the airlines of Richard Branson's Virgin Group, operating long-haul routes between London and North America, the Caribbean, Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Australia. Its main bases are London Heathrow (LHR) and London Gatwick (LGW), with a smaller base at Manchester International Airport (MAN).The company holds a United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority Type A Operating Licence, it is permitted to carry passengers, cargo and mail on aircraft with 20 or more seats.Virgin Atlantic's story began in 1982 when Randolph Fields, an American-born lawyer, set up British Atlantic Airways as a direct successor to Laker Airways. However, in order to obtain regulatory approval, Fields needed further financial backing. He met Richard Branson at a "high society" party in central London during which he proposed a business partnership between Branson and himself to get his fledgling airline off the ground. After protracted and testy negotiations, Fields agreed to a reduced stake of 25% in the now renamed airline and became Virgin Atlantic's first chairman. Following a series of disagreements over operational issues, Fields agreed to be bought out for an initial sum of £1 million with further payment due upon Virgin's first dividend payment. Following a High Court action, such additional payment was received shortly before Fields' death from cancer in 1997. Fields also obtained lifetime Upper Class flying privileges for his immediate family and his mother, one of British Atlantic's early backers.On June 22, 1984 Virgin Atlantic operated its inaugural scheduled air service between London Gatwick Airport and Newark using a single, leased Boeing 747-200, formerly operated by Aerolineas Argentina.The airline became profitable during its first year of operation. The company was able to do this because it used cash flow from the then already well-established Virgin Records business to finance the lease of a relatively "inexpensive", second-hand Boeing 747. The firm also timed the start of operations to take advantage of a full summer's season, which included the June to September peak season, by far the most profitable travel period of the year.In 1986 the airline added another 747 and started a second scheduled route from Gatwick to Miami. Additional aircraft were acquired and further routes were launched from Gatwick to New York JFK (1988), Tokyo (1989), Los Angeles (1990), Boston (1991) and Orlando (1992).49% of Virgin Atlantic was sold to Singapore Airlines in December 1999 for £600.25 million.In August 2002, Virgin became the first airline to use the Airbus A340-600. Rolls-Royce have won all recent engine competitions for Virgin aircraft; the company's Trent 500s will power the A340s and the Trent 900 will power A380s on order.In January 1991 the UK Government opened the door for Virgin to operate from London Heathrow Airport when it decided to abolish the so-called "London Air Traffic Distribution Rules" in response to growing pressure from the industry.According to some industry insider reports, Virgin Atlantic was facing increasing financial problems at that time. This was primarily the result of a sharp reduction in demand for air travel caused by the recession of the early 1990s as well as by people's heightened fear to travel in the aftermath of the first Gulf War. Britain's then Conservative Government, which had presided over the spectacular collapse of the International Leisure Group (ILG) and its wholly owned subsidiary Air Europe resulting in thousands of job losses and was well aware that Dan-Air was teetering on the brink of bankruptcy during that time, was desperate to avoid the collapse of another prominent Independent British airline, especially if its public profile was as high as Virgin Atlantic's. The Government was also conscious of the fact that many of these Independent airlines' employees whose jobs were threatened by the prevailing harsh economic climate at the time used to live in marginal Conservative constituencies. Therefore, the Government decided to let Virgin Atlantic into Heathrow by abolishing the "London Air Traffic Distribution Rules" despite facing mounting opposition from British Airways whose senior management was exerting pressure on the Government to maintain the status quo.The "London Air Traffic Distribution Rules" had come into effect in January 1978 and were applied retrospectively from the beginning of April 1977. These rules were designed to achieve a "fairer" distribution of traffic between London Heathrow Airport and London Gatwick Airport, the UK's two main international gateway airports. (At the time Gatwick was still underutilised and losing money.)The "London Air Traffic Distribution Rules" stated that airlines that did not already operate an international scheduled air service from/to Heathrow prior to April 1, 1977 would not be permitted to commence operations at that airport. Instead, they would have to use Gatwick for all their London-based operations. However, airlines that did not already operate at Heathrow prior to this law taking effect could still commence domestic scheduled services at the airport provided that the British Airports Authority, which ran both Heathrow and Gatwick on behalf of the Government, granted them permission to do so. In addition, the "London Air Traffic Distribution Rules" banned all new all-cargo as well as all charter flights from Heathrow.The decision to open up Heathrow to all newcomers - other than those governed by Bermuda II - angered BA's then chairman, the late Lord King of Wartnaby, who stopped British Airways' donations to the Conservative Party, which was ruling Britain at the time, in protest. Lord King was furthermore angered at the Civil Aviation Authority's subsequent decision to transfer two pairs of unused slots British Airways held at Tokyo's Narita International Airport to his archrival Virgin Atlantic to enable Virgin to increase its frequency between Heathrow and Tokyo from four to six weekly round-trips, thereby making it easier for Virgin to compete against British Airways in the highly lucrative business travel market. Lord King called the CAA's decision to transfer these slots to one of his rivals, which the Government had endorsed, "a confiscation of his company's property".The Government's decision to abolish the "London Air Traffic Distribution Rules" and to let a small, upstart airline like Virgin Atlantic commence operations at Heathrow in direct competition with British Airways then became the main trigger for BA's so-called "dirty tricks" campaign against Virgin.In 1992 BA's PR director David Burnside published an article in "BA News", British Airways' internal staff magazine, which argued that Branson's protestations against British Airways were merely a publicity stunt. Branson sued British Airways for libel. BA settled out of court when its lawyers unearthed evidence of the extraordinary lengths to which the company went to try to "kill off" Virgin. BA was faced with a legal bill of up to £3m, damages to Branson of £500,000 and a further £110,000 to his airline. Branson divided his £500,000 amongst his staff in the so-called "BA bonus", each receiving £166.In the 1990s, Virgin Atlantic jets were painted with the words "No-Way BA/AA" in opposition to the attempted merger between British Airways and American Airlines.In 1997, following British Airways' announcement that it was to remove the Union Flag from its tailfins in favour of world images, Virgin took advantage of the controversy provoked by introducing a union flag design on the winglets of its aircraft and changed the red dress on the "Scarlet Lady" on the nose of its aircraft to the union flag with the tag line "Britain's Flag Carrier". This was a "tongue-in-cheek" challenge to BA's traditional role as the UK's "flag carrier".Relations with British Airways improved considerably with the arrival of Rod Eddington as BA CEO though the rivalry between the two airlines continued. Eddington replaced the hapless Robert Ayling, a key player in the "dirty tricks" affair who was dismissed by Lord Marshall of Knightsbridge, the long-serving BA chairman and Mr. Ayling's chief mentor, on behalf of BA's main institutional shareholders after BA had suffered a record loss of £200m on Mr. Ayling's watch during the late 1990s.On June 19th, 1984, during the final CAA test flight before full licensing, an engine caught fire due to bird ingestion. The aircraft landed safely.On June 1st, 1996, flight VS007 from London to Los Angeles made an emergency landing at Iqaluit after a passenger had a heart attack. One of the 747's engines hit a fuel pump on the tarmac as it was taxiing, causing serious damage to the aircraft and a fuel spill. The aircraft had its engines repaired and left four days after the accident.On November 5th, 1997, after numerous attempts to shake the jammed main landing gear of an Airbus A340-300 G-VSKY failed, the aircraft made an emergency landing at London Heathrow Airport. The aircraft and the runway were damaged as the landing gear collapsed. The aircraft was evacuated safely causing only minor injuries.On February 8th, 2005, onboard an Airbus A340-600 aircraft en route from Hong Kong to London, the fuel control computer system caused a loss of automatic fuel transfer between tanks. The left outboard engine lost power, and shortly after the right outboard engine also began to falter until the crew began crossfeeding fuel manually. The crew diverted to Amsterdam, where a safe landing was made (ref: Flight International, July 2005).On July 15th, 2006, G-VWKD (an Airbus A340-600), during take off at Hong Kong International Airport, suffered damage because of a tailstrike and was forced to dump fuel in Hong Kong airspace and return to the airport for repairs. G-VMEG (another A340-600) was sent to rescue the stranded passengers.The airline has three classes of service: Economy, Premium Economy and Upper Class.Seats in Economy include a maximum seat pitch of 32" (depending on aircraft type). Inflight drinks are free and meals typically include ice-cream and a vegetarian option.Virgin Atlantic pioneered seat-back personal TVs in all classes, and has begun upgrading its aircraft to an Audio/Video on Demand (AVOD) system called V:Port. The V:Port system offers a choice of approximately 58 full length feature films, 60 audio CDs, and around 200 hours of television shows. Also featured are video games, some of which can be played against other passengers.Unlike some international carriers, Virgin also gives free personal amenity kits to passengers in all three classes, including items such as: toothbrush, pen, earplugs and eyemask.Premium Economy provides a separate check-in, a wider seat with more legroom than Economy, and a pre-flight glass of champagne. Other extras include a full range of newspapers and an after-dinner glass of brandy or Baileys. In the second quarter of 2006 Virgin announced that they will launch an updated Premium Economy product with leather seats and a wider seat than British Airways business class offering, Club World. This new design is due to launch in November 2006.Virgin Atlantic calls its business-class product offering "Upper Class". Upper Class passengers can request complimentary limousine pick-up and drop-off (although the limousine is not available to those who purchase the cheaper "Z" coded Upper Class fare). At the airport, Upper Class passengers can use Virgin's clubhouse lounge. Second-phase improvements to the London Heathrow clubhouse were completed mid 2006 and it currently offers a range of massage and grooming treatments (bookable in advance).Virgin Atlantic's new Upper Class Suite is currently rolling out across its fleet. The bed is claimed to be the biggest fully flat bed compared with any other airline's business class service (it is at least 79.5" long and 33" wide at the shoulders). Once again, a range of massage and grooming treatments are available to Upper Class passengers mid-flight, in addition to an onboard bar.Just over half of Virgin's flights leave London from London Heathrow, with the remainder leaving from London Gatwick. There are also daily services from Manchester International Airport to Orlando, and weekly services to Bridgetown and St Lucia (starting 16 November 2006).Virgin flights between the United Kingdom and the United States or the Bahamas bear special names, such as The Trance Atlantic (Miami-Heathrow), The London Shuttle (Boston-Heathrow) or The Rising Star (Los Angeles-Heathrow). More information is available at their dedicated website: VirginAtlanticFlights.com.New Services in 2006 London Heathrow to Dubai London Gatwick to Montego Bay Manchester to St Lucia (Starting November 16th, 2006) New Services in 2007 London Gatwick to Mauritius (Starting November 2007) Glasgow to Orlando (Starting June 23rd, 2007 - Seasonal service)
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