Virgin Atlantic extends Glasgow-Orlando winter service … and cuts fuel surcharge

VIRGIN ATLANTIC is to extend its Glasgow-Orlando service to meet high demand. The airline said that it will add a Friday flight to its winter 2016 schedule.

Steven Marshall, marketing manager at Glasgow Airport, said: ‘This is fantastic news for Scottish travellers looking to get away to America’s sunshine state from Scotland’s largest city.’

The Daily Mirror reports that Virgin Atlantic has cut its fuel surcharge by £20, following the drop in oil prices. The saving, on return flights, will apply to future bookings, says the airline.

The move comes after complaints that airlines have not been passing the drop in oil costs on to customers.

‘Although we buy our fuel months and years in advance – meaning that recent falls in the price of oil do not immediately impact costs – we have decided to, again, lower our fuel charge by £20 per return journey for customers,’ said Virgin Atlantic in a statement. ‘Overall, our prices have reduced by £70 per trip per person since fuel prices began to fall.’

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Virgin Atlantic to boost US, Cuba services

VIRGIN ATLANTIC is planning to increase the number of its flights to Havana, Las Vegas, and Orlando. 

To meet high demand for travel to these flagship destinations, services will begin to increase from late summer 2016. There will be additional services from Gatwick, Manchester, and Glasgow airports. In total, almost 35,000 extra return seats will be available for holidaymakers.

Capitalizing on strong demand for this Caribbean favourite, Virgin Atlantic will add a third weekly service from London Gatwick to Havana, Cuba, from November 2016 to March 2017 with the extra service taking place on Saturdays.

People in Scotland will have more choice when flying to Florida, with the current seasonal services to Orlando being extended so that a weekly service is available until the end of November 2016 and from the start of March 2017. 

The number of flights from Manchester and Gatwick to Las Vegas and Orlando will also be increased.

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Picture Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/28103712@N00/435906696"></a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/">(license), http://www.flickr.com/photos/14020964@N02/5878349974">Vintage american car and colors of Old Havana in the corner of Galiano and Zanja streets | Máquinas americanas y colores de la Habana Vieja. Esquina de Galiano y Zanja</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/">(license)

Up in the air ...

NORWEGIAN is to start #flights from Gatwick Airport to Puerto Rico and Boston, Massachusetts. Twice-weekly flights to Puerto Rico will start in November, and will be the UK’s only direct service to the Caribbean island. Fares start from £179 one way. The Boston flights – four a week – commence in May.

FLYBE has launched a year-round route service between Cardiff, Wales, and Munich, Germany. Flights to and from Munich will operate Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturdays, with one way fares available from £44.99 each way including taxes and charges.

DELTA and VIRGIN ATLANTIC Airways will start a daily service from Edinburgh
direct to New York JFK in May next year.

VLM AIRLINES is to introduce a #directflight service from Birmingham to Antwerp, Belgium in October. One-way fares start from £39.

RYANAIR has predicted a price war among European airlines as falling fuel prices see prices cut. The carrier thinks the cost of tickets could fall by between six and eight percent as airlines fight to attract passengers.

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Fly Away Bride

WITH many UK couples looking for reliable weather and lower wedding costs, the trend for getting #marriedabroad is increasing. Airport Parking & Hotels (APH) is hoping to assist Fly Away Brides to plan ahead with a comprehensive guide which compares airline policies for transporting wedding dresses and cakes abroad. 

The research compares guidelines across 15 major airlines including easyJet, Virgin Atlantic, and Thomson Airways, and highlights policies for carrying dresses as hand baggage and hold luggage. The guide also highlights the airline regulations relating to how the dress needs to be packed and whether any additional baggage options are available.

All of the 15 airlines in the study were found to allow wedding dresses to be transported as hand luggage, although 14 of the airlines offer no additional baggage allowance for the bride. Couples who have booked a wedding package through Thomas Cook are entitled to 11kgs hand luggage spread across two bags for each person travelling, instead of the usual policy of 6kgs in one bag.

When it comes to packing wedding dresses, airlines such as Air Canada, British Airways, Lufthansa, and US Airways recommend that it is packed in a foldable garment bag to reduce creases and damage during the flight. Virgin Atlantic require the dress to be packed in a separate suitcase marked 'fragile wedding garments' if it is to travel in the hold.

Brides travelling with British Airways and Virgin Atlantic can ask for their dress to be hung in a wardrobe storage area if space is available. Ryanair will go one step further, allowing passengers to book an additional seat for their dress for the duration of the flight. They must pay the full ticket price for the seat occupied.

Three of the 15 airlines compared in the survey, including Aer Lingus, easyJet, and Flybe allow passengers to bring their wedding cakes onboard. For those travelling with Aer Lingus, there is the option of checking the cake in or carrying it as hand luggage, while easyJet says they must be carried only as hand luggage.

Travellers flying with Flybe and opting for a traditional Scottish wedding abroad should be aware that the kilt pin and sgian gubh (sock knife) can be carried only as checked luggage … for obvious security reasons. 

The research can be found in the Know Before You Go section of the APH website … www.aph.com/weddingdresses

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Picture Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/96763131@N00/3622624786">Rp and Lauren Wave to Their Fans</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/">(license)

Flying with kids?

WITH the school summer holiday period approaching, Airport Parking and Hotels (APH) has compared facilities available for parents travelling with infants and children on major airlines. The research is available in a comprehensive guide that can be found in the Know Before You Go section of the APH website … at www.aph.com/childrensfacilities. 

The research compares the facilities for infants and children across 20 major airlines including Aer Lingus, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, and Virgin Atlantic, highlighting the on-board changing facilities, children's meals, difference in cost for a child's ticket, and the rules for children when travelling unaccompanied.

Of the 20 airlines researched, nine airlines charge an infant fare when sitting on a parent's lap at 10% of an adult fare, whereas the remaining 11 airlines allow infants to travel on an adult's lap at no additional cost. Meanwhile, for a child's fare, the rates differ depending on the airline. For example, for travellers flying with American Airlines, a child's fare is 25% of an adult's fare, but with Atlantic Airways, it’s 50%.

www.aph.com 

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Up in the air . . .

VIRGIN ATLANTIC is celebrating the first of its new summer flights between Belfast and Orlando, and has also confirmed the return of the route for next year.

The weekly service from Northern Ireland to Florida will continue for four weeks this summer. It will return at the end of June next year with a further four return flights operating on a weekly basis.

The service will add an additional 1,820 departure seats from Belfast to the Sunshine State over the summer season.

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Busy April marks record year for Manchester airport

ALMOST 30,000 more people used Manchester airport last month than in April 2014, to bring the total up to 1.7 million. The rolling annual total of passengers stands at a record 22.3 million, up 6.7% year-on-year.

A busy Easter period and an increase in long-haul routes were key drivers of growth.

April saw Virgin Atlantic take over Delta Air Lines’ Atlanta service and add a larger aircraft to the route. Thomas Cook Airlines has started new direct services to Miami and New York, and plans flights to Los Angeles and Boston in 2016.

Airport managing director, Ken O’Toole, said: ‘Manchester Airport’s growth continues and we are already looking ahead to a busy summer schedule. With two full length runways, Manchester will continue to have the available capacity and demand to meet the needs of our airlines and passengers.’

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Picture Credit: Sunset Approach - Boeing 747-400 Virgin Atlantic by Joao Carlos Medau from Campinas, Brazil -via Wikimedia Commons

Up in the air …

DELTA AIR LINES and VIRGIN ATLANTIC Airways have expanded their transatlantic partnership, with the introduction of schedules that offer six new daily services. The airlines begin their summer schedule, providing up to 39 return transatlantic flights a day between the UK and 15 destinations across North America. The joint schedule includes ten daily flights on the world’s largest business travel market, between London Heathrow and New York, now with eight daily departures to New York-JFK and two departures to Newark.

FLYBE’s 2015 summer schedule from its newly re-opened base at Aberdeen, offers up to 75 flights a week on five key routes. Flybe’s routes from Aberdeen include a daily service to Belfast, the first summer of operation for Flybe’s three times a day service to London City, and multi-frequency flights to Birmingham and Manchester.

EASYJET has opened a base at Francisco de Sa Carneiro Airport Porto in northern Portugal. Three UK routes – from Manchester, Bristol, and London Luton airports – to the new Porto base are to be launched in April and May.

BMI REGIONAL has opened a base at Munich Airport to support three new flight routes to the city from Rotterdam, Liege, and Bern.

A new route to Budapest from Glasgow is being started by WIZZ AIR this summer. The airline carrier is to operate flights from June with fares at £28.49 one-way.

AIR SEYCHELLES is to run three non-stop Paris flights each week from July, replacing the current twice-weekly service to the French capital via Abu Dhabi.

LONDON mayor Boris Johnson has rejected a £200 million expansion plan for LONDON CITY AIRPORT. He says it would lead to unacceptable noise levels.

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Virgin Atlantic doubles SF-London flights

VIRGIN ATLANTIC is doubling its flights between San Francisco and London Heathrow by adding a second daily service from October 24.

Last year Virgin Atlantic announced it would add a second service from San Francisco to London five times a week for the summer season, starting on March 29. Due to its popularity, the airline will be extending the service and next winter it will be flying the route twice daily, seven days a week from October. The service will form part of the airline’s joint venture with Delta, which offers up to 39 transatlantic flights a day at peak times.

Passengers will also have a better choice of departure times, with an evening and late evening departure from San Francisco and a morning and afternoon departure from London.

Virgin Atlantic has also revealed the next routes on which customers will be able to experience the new 787-9 Dreamliners. In addition to San Francisco, the 787s will be flying several other US routes this year, including Boston, Washington Dulles, Newark, JFK, and Los Angeles to London Heathrow.

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Fly south to the Sunshine State

VIRGIN AMERICA has started a daily seasonal service between New York (JFK) and Fort Lauderdale in Florida.

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Virgin steps up summer flights to Orlando and Las Vegas

HOLIDAYMAKERS flying from Manchester Airport will have more options next summer from Virgin Atlantic, which says it will increase flights to Orlando and Las Vegas next summer following high demand.

An extra 24 flights will operate to Orlando and Las Vegas. Frequencies will include two flights a day on Thursdays and Sundays to Orlando in July and August. 

The Las Vegas service will have an additional weekly flight between July and October, operating on a Tuesday.

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Up in the air …

POTENTIAL pilots with no flying experience ... are being offered the chance to train to fly Virgin Atlantic long-haul aircraft. An 18-month pilot training programme has been launched by the airline in conjunction with Southampton-based training firm CTC Aviation. Would-be pilots will undergo pre-flight training and flight deck simulation in Southampton and flight training in Phoenix, Arizona. The course leads to the Civil Aviation Authority's multi pilot licence and a position as a Virgin Atlantic co-pilot on Airbus A330s. Applicants are required to have a minimum of five GCSEs or equivalent including maths, science and English.

AER LINGUS passengers flying from Bristol to Washington DC are being given the option to fast-track their journey via Dublin. Pre-clearance at Dublin Airport by US Customs and Border staff means travellers from south-west England will be able to avoid delays of up to two hours at security checks on entry to America. The service is being introduced as a result of a link by Aer Lingus Regional from Bristol to Dublin, which will connect to Aer Lingus’s new four-times-a-week Dublin to Washington-Dulles service from May next year.

EASYJET is to start direct scheduled flights between Bristol and Gibraltar next year, making it the only airline to serve the route. The year-round service will take off from Bristol on its inaugural flight on April 19, flying up to three times a week. More than 19,000 seats are available on the new flights for the summer from April 19 to September 6. The Bristol-Gibraltar flights are on sale now at www.easyjet.com.

BRITISH AIRWAYS has announced an additional flight from London to Tobago from spring next year.

The route will be operated with a stop in Antigua, but the airline said it would be interested in offering a non-stop operation.




AMERICAN AIRLINES is increasing its daily Heathrow-LA flights from three to four, as from next March.




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Picture Credit: 'Boeing 747-400 Simulator' by NASA Ames Research Center - Human Systems Integration Division (nasaimages.org) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons; "HalfPennyBridge" via Wikimedia Commons; "Rock of Gibraltar seen from Punta Carnero" via Wikimedia Commons; Pidgeon Point, Tobago: "Boccoo2-2005" by Reinhard Jahn via Wikimedia Commons; "LA Skyline Mountains2" by Nserrano via Wikimedia Commons

Virgin Atlantic signs up HSBC to low carbon fuel intuitive

VIRGIN ATLANTIC reports that UK bank HSBC is joining its partnership with LanzaTech in preparation for a world-first flight using a low carbon fuel.

LanzaTech is developing an energy source from gases left-over in industrial steel production. The two companies have been working for three years on the fuel’s development, but HSBC’s support means a proving flight of the new technology will take place within the next year.

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Virgin Atlantic gets its first Dreamliner

VIRGIN ATLANTIC’S first Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner has been delivered to the airline. 

The carrier is the first in Europe to take delivery of the 787-9, and plans to operate the aircraft initially on its Heathrow-Boston route.

It is the first of 16 Dreamliners Virgin has ordered.

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Picture Credit: 'Virgin Atlantic Boeing 787-9 G-VNEW (1st 787-9 at Gatwick) 10-10-14' by MercerMJ via Wikimedia Commons

Virgin to axe Little Red flights

VIRGIN ATLANTIC is to shut down its short-haul UK operation Little Red next year..... 

....Its daily services between Heathrow and Manchester will end in March, and Heathrow flights to Edinburgh and Aberdeen will stop in September.

Little Red launched in March 2013 following British Airways’ takeover of bmi, when Virgin Atlantic was awarded “remedy slots” on the Edinburgh and Aberdeen routes. Virgin hoped to build connecting traffic into Heathrow on the domestic routes, the first it has operated.

Announcing the closure, the airline said: ‘Demand has been predominantly from point-to-point customers rather than connecting traffic. Little Red has unfortunately not been able to make a positive contribution to Virgin Atlantic’s network.’

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Picture Credit: 'Virgins "Little Red" EI-DEO at Heathrow'  by Simon Boddy via Wikimedia Commons

It's a travel thing.......they ARE doing better...

70Mb broadband services on Virgin Atlantic 

GLOBAL aero communications service provider Gogo has announced a partnership with Virgin Atlantic to offer in-flight connectivity services from next year. Gogo’s 2Ku in-flight broadband system provides download speeds of up to 70Mb over a local Wi-Fi network. 

Reuben Arnold, brand and customer engagement director at Virgin Atlantic said: ‘We’re always looking at ways to enhance the on-board experience for our customers and expanding in-flight connectivity across our fleet is just one of the ways in which we are doing this. We were impressed with Gogo’s connectivity solution and look forward to all of our customers being able to enjoy this service.’

Peloponnese to get 2^nd civilian airport

The Greek Civil Aviation Authority is to have partial use of the military airfield in Tripoli (Peloponnese) as from next year. The change will ease the strain on Kalamata – also a shared military and civil airport in the Peloponnese – which this year has seen a 54 percent increase in passenger traffic.

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70Mb broadband services on Virgin Atlantic

GLOBAL aero communications service provider Gogo has announced a partnership with Virgin Atlantic to offer in-flight connectivity services from next year. Gogo’s 2Ku in-flight broadband system provides download speeds of up to 70Mb over a local Wi-Fi network.

Reuben Arnold, brand and customer engagement director at Virgin Atlantic said: ‘We’re always looking at ways to enhance the on-board experience for our customers and expanding in-flight connectivity across our fleet is just one of the ways in which we are doing this. We were impressed with Gogo’s connectivity solution and look forward to all of our customers being able to enjoy this service.’

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Picture Credit:  -  via Wikimedia Commons

Virgin Atlantic beefs up UK-US focus

VIRGIN ATLANTIC is to stop flights on several routes as it looks to reach sustained profitability by 2018.

The carrier will cancel services from Heathrow to Tokyo, Mumbai, Vancouver, and Cape Town next year while it focuses on its joint venture with Delta Air Lines and a strategy with US-UK transatlantic routes at its core.

There will be additional daily flights from Britain to Detroit, New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta, and San Francisco.

Its Johannesburg and Delhi services will continue to operate, as will others in Asia, the Caribbean, Africa, and the Middle East.

Virgin Atlantic has also announced a four-year, £300 million programme to improve its “customer experience”.

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Island link

THE British Virgin Islands (BVI) Tourist Board has announce a new VIP air service. It flies Antigua and Beef Island, and connects with the arrival/departure of scheduled British Airways and Virgin Atlantic flights between London, Gatwick and Antigua. 

The twice a week flights, on Saturdays and Sundays, operated by VI Airlink, include a personalized meet-and-greet concierge service.

Commenting on the service, Sharon Flax-Mars, the BVI’s director of tourism says: ‘Our passenger numbers from the UK have been growing. We listened to our industry partners and added the extra airlift they need.’

The timing of the new flights will allow visitors departing from the BVI to have more time in their destination on the day of departure, while incoming guests will arrive earlier.

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Virgin expands UK-US flights

VIRGIN ATLANTIC has announced new flights from Glasgow and Belfast to the US next summer.

The Belfast route will be the first Northern Ireland service for the carrier, with services from Belfast International to Orlando to commence in June 2015. It will operate in June and July with an additional 3,600 seats in total.

A similar number of seats will be available on the Glasgow to Las Vegas route, which will launch in September 2015 and run throughout September and October.

Both routes form part of Virgin Atlantic’s joint venture with Delta Air Lines, with Delta offering ticket sales under a codeshare agreement.

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