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Virgin Atlantic – The story begins
In 1982, Randolph Fields, an American-born lawyer, and Alan Hellary, a former chief pilot for Laker Airways, set up British Atlantic Airways as a direct successor to Laker Airways. Hellary and Fields decided to try to secure a licence to fly from London Gatwick to JFK Airport in New York but failed. Fields met Sir Richard Branson in 1983 and proposed a business partnership between Branson and himself to get his fledgling airline off the ground. On June 22, 1984 Virgin Atlantic operated its inaugural scheduled air service between London Gatwick and Newark Liberty Airport using a single, leased Boeing 747-200.
Virgin Atlantic – Fleet size increasing
Nearly 75% of Virgin’s flights operate from London Heathrow, with the remainder operating from London Gatwick. There are some services from Manchester Airport and one regular flight from Glasgow International Airport. Virgin’s fleet is composed of both Airbus and Boeing aircraft. Boeing 747-400s are used on all routes from Gatwick and Manchester while both 747s and Airbus A340s are used interchangeably on routes from Heathrow. The airline also has both Boeing 787-9 and Airbus A380-800 aircraft on order that will be delivered beginning in 2011 and 2013. Virgin fly to Africa; Kenya, Mauritius, Nigeria and South Africa; China, Japan and Dubai; major US cities plus the Caribbean and Australia.
Virgin Atlantic – Reaching all four corners of the world
Virgin plan to add Rio de Janeiro, Seattle, Vancouver, Bangkok, and Melbourne as possible new destinations. The 787’s long range would also make non-stop operations from London to Perth, Australia and Honolulu, Hawaii economically viable for the first time in the airline’s history. Virgin is also in negotiations with both Boeing and Airbus over an order for ten high-capacity, fuel-efficient, long-haul, wide-bodied jets for the airline’s Gatwick-based fleet. In 2006 Richard Branson announced plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by cutting down on aircraft weight and fuel consumption. There was also an experiment to have aircraft towed to the runway to save fuel.
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