Well, It’s official, and whilst we are awaiting images of the actual product itself, the end of the month will bring the launch of Virgin Atlantic‘s newly nicknamed ‘Little Red’ domestic services. The 26 daily flights, whilst a smaller proposition compared to BA‘s offerings (if you include London City Airport flights) will offer an array of connections to Virgin Atlantic’s main fleet, providing Manchester, Edinburgh and Glasgow residents more options to travel across the pond or through to Asia and beyond.
There is great scope for this new startup. However the onboard offering sadly isn’t much different to that you would receive on British Airways shuttle services, and perhaps Virgin have missed the opportunity to provide some type of entertainment offering. Either by magazines or TV screens. Whilst there is a 23kg baggage allowance and lounge access for connecting Upper Class Passengers, onboard it’s all economy class only. Early morning flights before 9am will receive a hot breakfast, and other flights will offer British favourites, including Tyrells crisps (In nifty plane shapes – we’d love to know where you can grow plane shaped potatoes) and Scottish classic Irn-Bru (along with a fully stocked bar). Whilst the business model still seems a little unclear, it seems it is primarily going to act as a feeder service into Virgin Atlantic’s main long haul fleet. There has already been an announcement that Air New Zealand will codeshare on the flights, providing onwards connections to 3 UK cities for the Super-Long Haul ANZ flights.
That’s good news for Air New Zealand passengers, who will enjoy connections through the same terminal, however, Virgin Atlantic passengers, will have to connect via bus to Terminal 3 from Terminal 1 to make their onward flight. Not as big a problem as it sounds, the connections are all airside, and only take a matter of minutes.
As soon as we get some images from Virgin, you’ll be the first to see them here, so bookmark this page and keep on coming back!
