Virgin Atlantic Airways - Fleet

Fleet

Virgin Atlantic's fleet uses both Airbus and Boeing aircraft, with an average age of 9.6 years as of April 2012. Boeing 747-400s and Airbus A330s are used on selected routes from Gatwick, Glasgow and Manchester, with the A330 being used on other flights as well. Boeing 747s and Airbus A340s are used interchangeably on all routes from Heathrow.

Virgin Atlantic has orders for Boeing 787–9 and Airbus A380-800 aircraft for delivery beginning 2014 and 2015, respectively. The A380 was expected in service in 2006 but was delayed until 2009 because of problems within Airbus. Virgin then deferred its order to 2013, arguing it wanted the aircraft to prove itself before it began to operate them.

The order for 15 Boeing 787-9s, with options on eight more and purchase rights on 20 more, was announced on 24 April 2007. The aircraft will replace Virgin’s older A340-300s. Virgin has listed Seattle, Vancouver, Bangkok and Melbourne as possible destinations for the aircraft, saying the 787 would make possible non-stop operations from London to Perth, Australia and Honolulu, Hawaii.

On 27 September 2006, Branson announced plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by cutting aircraft weight and fuel consumption. There was also an experiment in 2007 in partnership with Boeing to have aircraft towed to the runway to save fuel, as a potential change to future operational procedures.

Two Virgin Atlantic aircraft are featured in the James Bond film Casino Royale. One Airbus A340-600 (G-VWIN) and one Boeing 747-400 (G-VWOW) along with Branson and Virgin Atlantic crew, are part of a scene at Miami Airport, although the sequence was filmed at Prague's Ruzyně International Airport. Virgin Atlantic's relationship with the James Bond franchise continues in Quantum Of Solace, where James Bond and René Mathis travel to La Paz, Bolivia, on board Virgin Atlantic, in Upper Class, although the airline has never flown to any destination in South America.

Virgin began refitting all of the "leisure fleet" 747's in April 2012, with the work due to be completed in October. This will include a deep clean of upper class, installation of the Premium Economy "space seat" and a new economy seat. The IFE will also be replaced with the state of the art JAM system seen on the A330 fleet. After the upgrades Virgin will then refit the two 2-class A330's into a 3-Class layout and station them at London Heathrow.

Virgin Atlantic’s fleet consists of the following aircraft as of November 2012: