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Articles tagged “VirginAtlantic”

Virgin Atlantic celebrates 25 years flying to Miami

by Chris Owen on Jun 16, 2011

4.5 Million passengers later, Virgin Atlantic is celebrating 25 years of flying to Miami. Sir Richard Branson walked the wing of a Virgin Atlantic Airways 747-400 at Miami International Airport this week to celebrate 25 years of flying from London to Miami.

“This is a fantastic milestone in Virgin Atlantic’s history,” Branson said reports the DailyMail. “Miami was the second route Virgin Atlantic launched two years after the airline began and to think that we are now a world-class airline with 32 long-haul destinations is a dream come true.”

In celebration, the airline is offering fares from London to Miami for as low as $281 per person each way during it’s 25 year anniversary sale . Originally good through June 15th, the sale has been extended through June 21.
Since starting to fly the London to Miami route in 1986, the airline’s fleet has flown a total of 67 million miles to and from Miami and served guests over 5 million of their signature meals and ice cream. Passengers have enjoyed 165,000 bottles of champagne with the millionth glass supposedly served aboard the June 15 flight.

“Miami is a key route for Virgin Atlantic” Branson said “with many business travelers commuting on the route each year and holiday makers jetting out to enjoy Miami and its many beautiful beaches. Our promise to our passengers when we launched the route was to offer a fantastic quality of service and innovation onboard at great value and I believe that we continue to fulfill that promise 25 years later.”

Virgin Atlantic also celebrated this week the 10th anniversary of flights between London and Las Vegas with Branson and the world’s most famous burlesque performer Dita Von Teese, at an airside photocall as they walked the wing of the plane on arrival.

Since June 2000 Virgin Atlantic has flown 2 million passengers to the destination, with its twice-weekly service increasing to a daily flight in may 2006 due to the route’s popularity. Today, the airline is also announcing the launch of twice-weekly flights from Manchester to Las Vegas in April 2011.

Here’s to 10 and 25 more Sir Richard!

Virgin Atlantic first class massage therapists awarded $500,000 in damages

by Scott Carmichael on Mar 11, 2011

Two Virgin Atlantic massage therapists have been awarded GBP300,000 in damages for pain caused by repetitive strain injuries from massages performed at the airline’s London Heathrow first class lounge.

The pair claimed their injuries were sustained because most of their (male) passengers were massaged while wearing heavy clothing, requiring more intensive therapy.

According to the women, their abilities to perform normal household chores were impacted by the RSI.

In court, Virgin Atlantic did not deny the claims, but disagreed with the level of compensation being demanded. Once the massage sessions started causing pain to the therapists, Virgin reduced the number of required rounds to two per hour, but soon increased it again. Both therapists have had to abandon their careers.

[Photo: Flickr/Gary Bembridge]

Airlines fined for price-fixing, $1.7 billion so far

by Chris Owen on Mar 6, 2011

U.S government prosecutors have fined 21 airlines $1.7 billion to date in a price-fixing scheme that has cost America’s flying public and cargo shippers millions in a case that dates back to 2000.

Rather than fix problems plaguing the airline industry a decade ago, executives at global carriers scrambled to find an easy way out and avoid financial ruin reports the Associated Press. Between 2000 and 2006 airlines artificially raised passenger and cargo fuel surcharges to make up for lost profits.

“As an example of the impact of the conspiracy, fuel surcharges imposed by some of the conspirators rose by as much as 1,000 percent during the conspiracy, far outpacing any percentage increases in fuel costs that existed during the same time period,” said former Associate Attorney General Kevin J. O’Connor.

They might have not been caught either had it not been for two airlines coming forward to turn in their conspirators. Admitting their “mistake” allowed Lufthansa and Virgin Atlantic to take advantage of a Justice Department leniency program for helping in the investigation. Still, the two airlines were fined over £120 million after admitting to fixing prices on fuel surcharges.

From fines to prison time for airline executives, penalties vary among individual airlines.

Gadling has been following this story all along and in 2008 told of Qantas airline’s involvement . In the case involving Qantas, the price fixing scheme had a focus on their freight division.

It was the freight division of China Airlines too that earned the airline a $40 million fine in the price fixing conspiracy just last September.

Announcing four guilty pleas in June 2008, O’Connor told the Associated Press that the cases “conservatively, has affected billions of dollars of shipments. Estimates suggest that the harm to American consumers and businesses from this conspiracy is in the hundreds of millions of dollars.”

Airlines fined for price-fixing include British Airways, Korean Air, and Air France-KLM but no major U.S. carriers as the case continues. So far, two former executives have been sentenced to six months in prison and two others were ordered to prison for eight months.

Ongoing charges are pending against 15 executives, nine of whom are considered fugitives.

Flickr photo by BriYYZ

Survey reveals hottest flight attendants – Virgin Atlantic grabs top spot

by Scott Carmichael on Feb 15, 2011

A survey by the Business Travel and Meetings Show asked 1000 of its members to pick the “most attractive flight attendants”. The results are a mixed bag – as expected, the Asian carriers all scored very well, but top spot for “hottest flight attendants” went to Virgin Atlantic with 53% of the votes.

There are even a few surprises in the lineup – with Aer Lingus coming in fifth, and KLM ninth. I can’t say I’d have included either of those in the list.

Top 10 most attractive airline cabin crew members:

1. Virgin Atlantic

2. Singapore Airlines

3. Etihad

4. Emirates

5. Aer Lingus

6. Lufthansa

7. Cathay Pacific

8. TAP

9. KLM

10. Iberia

Delta: single large airline looking for Virgin partner

by Tom Johansmeyer on Dec 16, 2010

I hope you haven’t become too attached to Virgin Atlantic. The airline has gotten its share of calls lately about potential mergers, but they are qualified with expressions like “early stages” and “far too early” to say anything about. This isn’t all that surprising, given the strength of its brand and the fact that the airline hired Deutsche Bank to help it evaluate its available growth opportunities.

Word on the street is that Delta is sniffing around, but neither Delta nor Virgin Atlantic would say anything about it.

The notion of a merger with an airline of Delta’s size is interesting, as majority owner of Virgin Atlantic, Sir Richard Branson, didn’t have much in the way of positive commentary for the British Airways/Iberia deal, which he believed would lead to higher prices and lower competition.

But, the aviation business is feeling the urge to merge, and analysts are saying that Virgin Atlantic needs a big buddy in order to compete effectively, the BBC reports.

[photo by eisenbahner via Flickr]

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