VIRGIN Atlantic’s Airbus A330 aircraft will take to the skies from Dubai to London as part of its new $2.2-billion fleet of 10 planes. The new A330 aircraft enables the long-haul airline to take more passengers to key markets including US East Coast, East and West Africa, the Middle East and India.
The maiden A330 aircraft, named ‘Beauty Queen’ was Virgin Atlantic’s first long-range twin-engine aircraft and is the most efficient aircraft in its class today. The new plane will use 15 per cent less fuel per seat than the airline’s A340-300 aircraft, delivering Virgin Atlantic’s commitment to flying a lower carbon fleet.Virgin Atlantic’s A330 aircraft operate on leisure routes and are configured in the airline’s three classes: Upper Class, Premium Economy and Economy. Virgin Atlantic’s A330 aircraft feature a revolutionary new IFE system by Panasonic.The new cutting-edge system uses the latest touch screen technology that allows passengers to scroll and swipe through more than 300 hours of content quickly and easily. In addition to this, passengers are now able to send and receive emails and texts on their Blackberries, handheld PDAs and other devices with on-board Wi-Fi and Aeromobile.Brad West, country manager, comments: “Not only does the A330 deliver savings in emissions and fuel consumption, it offers our customers a cutting-edge product, which will transform their flying experience.”Virgin Atlantic’s first-ever domestic flight service, Little Red, launched on March 31 in Manchester, April 5 in Edinburgh and April 9 in Aberdeen. There are to be 26 daily flights between London Heathrow and Manchester, Edinburgh and Aberdeen offering new choice to passengers who have faced monopoly prices on UK domestic flights from Heathrow.Bringing a splash of red to the sky, Sir Richard Branson’s Little Red service will offer four daily roundtrips between London Heathrow and Manchester, six daily round-trips to Edinburgh and a further three daily round-trips to Aberdeen. An extra service was added to Manchester, offering four flights a day instead of the three originally planned, to give passengers even more flexibility and offer even better connections to Virgin’s worldwide network.Virgin Atlantic Little Red offers free 23-kg luggage check-ins, pre-assigned seats, complimentary snacks and drinks, and even hot breakfasts on early morning flights.