VIRGIN ATLANTIC CELEBRATES MANY HAPPY RETURNS

Virgin Atlantic Airways celebrates its seventeenth birthday next week. The airline began services on 22 June 1984 with just one plane and one route. From July this year it will operate 22 routes worldwide with a fleet of 34 aircraft.

Sir Richard Branson, Chairman of Virgin Atlantic, said:

“It is amazing to think that from Virgin Atlantic’s beginnings as a one-aircraft operation we have become a significant player in world aviation – no one, not least ourselves, could have predicted the airline would have grown to the size it is today. From next month we will fly to 22 destinations in 10 different countries as far apart as China and Canada.

“Our expansion has been considerable over the past two years with the launch of five new routes and increased frequencies to many destinations. In 1999 we began the first direct services between London and Shanghai. In the same year we began services to Chicago and Cape Town and increased frequencies to New York.

“During 2000 we began another landmark service to Las Vegas, also the first direct scheduled service, together with services to Delhi and increased frequencies to Cape Town, San Francisco and Shanghai. We are continuing that expansion this year with new services to Toronto and Lagos and increased services to many of our other existing destinations. We are also increasing services to Las Vegas, San Francisco and Hong Kong.

“The introduction of services by Virgin Atlantic has increased competition on every route we fly and has ultimately lowered fares for consumers. Passengers on all our routes have experienced unrivalled service and many onboard features unique to Virgin. Seventeen years ago we promised you a fun, high quality airline, offering innovation and value. I think we’ve made good on our pledge and I hope we’re still delivering on that promise in years to come.”

Steve Ridgway, managing director of Virgin Atlantic, said;

"Virgin Atlantic’s recent growth has been exceptional – in fact we have grown by between 10 –15% for the past four years. By the end of 2001 we expect to have carried culmatively nearly 32 million passengers, 4.75 million this year alone, achieving a turnover of over £1.5 billion and operating a fleet of 37 aircraft.

“Virgin Atlantic is renowned not only for its innovations and value for money for leisure passengers but also as a world player continuing to increase the number of business destinations it serves, of which Lagos and Toronto are important new editions.”

Throughout its history Virgin has offered a unique travelling experience and revolutionised many aspects of air travel for both business and leisure passengers. It was the first airline to provide all economy passengers with individual television screens and the first to offer business class passengers innovations such as stand-up bars on board, on board therapists offering massages and beauty treatments, complimentary limousines to and from the airport and Drive Thru Check In facilities.

Virgin Atlantic will continue to innovate and is already working on ideas for the aircraft of the future. As a launch customer for the Airbus A380, Virgin Atlantic is working closely with Airbus to pioneer new concepts in air travel.