Airliners-India.com

747-237

http://atwonline.com/airline-finance-data/news/virgin-atlantic-enter-short-haul-market-0820

Virgin Atlantic to enter short-haul market

August 20, 2012

Virgin Atlantic (VS) will enter the short-haul market next year when it launches a 3X-daily Manchester (MAN)-London Heathrow (LHR) service from March 2013.

The route, which will use three wet-leased Airbus A319s, will compete with British Airways (BA) on the domestic trunk route. It will use two slots currently leased to Cyprus Airways, so there is no impact on VS’s long-haul schedules at heavily slot-constrained LHR.

Future routes will depend on VS winning the “remedy slots” that BA has been ordered to divest by European competition authorities as part of the deal to acquire British Midlands International (ATW Daily News, April 23).

The MAN-LHR route will act as a feeder for VS’s long-haul services, the company said Tuesday. It pointed out that some 65% of passengers traveling from the northwest English city to LHR connect to onward flights. “We have the means to connect thousands of passengers to our long-haul network as well as to destinations served by other carriers,” VS CEO Steve Ridgway said.

The Virgin Group, parent to VS, has been in the short-haul market before. In 1996, it bought EuroBelgian Airlines, rebranding as Virgin Express before merging in 2007 with SN Brussels Airlines, which became Brussels Airlines (SN). SN is now an affiliate of Lufthansa Group, which has a 45% stake in the Belgian carrier (ATW Daily News, Dec. 24, 2008). Virgin Group also retains a stake.

_________________
11000 posts (and counting) on Airliners-India.

747-237 · Posted: Tue Dec 11, 2012 8:17 am Post subject:

http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/virgin-atlantic-to-wet-lease-a320s-from-aer-lingus-379994/

Virgin Atlantic to wet-lease A320s from Aer Lingus

Virgin Atlantic has tentatively agreed to wet-lease four Airbus A320s from Irish flag-carrier Aer Lingus.

The twinjets will be painted in Virgin Atlantic livery and used to operate domestic UK routes from London Heathrow to Manchester, Edinburgh and Aberdeen.

Aer Lingus confirms the "preliminary" agreement, adding that a final deal remains subject to contract.

But it adds that the four aircraft would be used initially for a three-year wet-lease and would operate for Virgin from 31 March next year.
_________________
11000 posts (and counting) on Airliners-India.

747-237 · Posted: Thu Mar 28, 2013 7:38 pm Post subject:

747-237 · Posted: Mon Apr 08, 2013 10:28 pm Post subject:

Virgin launches domestic services
Virgin Atlantic has celebrated its first ever domestic flight, from London to Edinburgh.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/travelnews/9979183/Virgin-launches-domestic-services.html

747-237 · Posted: Sun Sep 07, 2014 5:08 pm Post subject:

http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/business/Companies/article1455799.ece

Branson U-turn as new British airline to shut

7 September 2014

VIRGIN is set to close its domestic airline just 18 months after it was launched with a promise to take on British Airways and cut fares.

The shutdown of Little Red, as the service was dubbed, will be a humiliation for Sir Richard Branson, Virgin Atlantic’s founder. He launched the carrier in March last year, saying: “Little Red will stop British Airways dominating routes and driving higher prices.”

Little Red began with flights from Heathrow to three cities — Manchester, Edinburgh and Aberdeen — with the aim of feeding passengers into Virgin’s long-haul network. The launch was a response to the takeover of the regional carrier BMI by BA’s owner, IAG, which Branson had fiercely opposed.

_________________
11000 posts (and counting) on Airliners-India.