Tag Archives: Virgin Atlantic

Virgin Atlantic has introduced a first-of-its-kind rewards programme exclusively for Indian travel agents. Exclusive Virgin-style Rewards and Benefits including epic experiences and exclusive event invitations. A first-of-its-kind for Virgin Atlantic in India, Sky High Club is more than a loyalty programme – it is a celebration of the passion, hustle and heart that define the Indian travel industry. With every booking, agents will now have the chance to earn points and unlock a world of extraordinary rewards and unforgettable experiences

Virgin Atlantic is taking its partnership with India’s travel trade community to new heights with the launch of Sky High Club – an exclusive new rewards programme created especially for travel agents across the country. A first-of-its-kind for Virgin Atlantic in India, Sky High Club is more than a loyalty programme – it is a celebration of the passion, hustle and heart that define the Indian travel industry. With every booking, agents will now have the chance to earn points and unlock a world of extraordinary rewards and unforgettable experiences. Shivani Singh Deo, India Country Manager, Virgin Atlantic commented, “At Virgin Atlantic, we have always believed in the power of partnerships and Sky High Club is our way of recognising the travel agents who make incredible journeys possible every single day – and we are here to champion, celebrate and reward them like never before.” As agents progress through the programme, the benefits grow even more rewarding – a reflection of Virgin Atlantic’s ongoing commitment to recognising and celebrating those who consistently go the extra mile. India’s travel agents have always been more than just supporters of the journey – they are an integral part of it. With the launch of the Sky High Club, Virgin Atlantic reaffirms its dedication to the travel trade community as we soar to new heights, together. The Sky High Club is now officially cleared for take-off. Welcome aboard.

Virgin Atlantic celebrates 25 years of flying in India Virgin Atlantic celebrates 25 years of flying to India and its ongoing commitment to growth in the region. Since first launching flights between London Heathrow and Delhi in July 2000, India is now the airline’s third largest market and has grown from zero to one million seats each year, with five flights daily from Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru. Growth of 350% since 2019. Alongside options for customers, the increase in flying is also a huge boost for cargo operations with additional capacity to support the movement of goods from the fashion, pharmaceuticals and tech sectors. With five daily services, Virgin Atlantic Cargo offers over 53.4 million kg of space to and from India, a 356% increase in capacity versus 2019. Shai Weiss, CEO and Juha Jarvinen, Chief Commercial Officer, Virgin Atlantic marked the occasion this morning, alongside local crew in front of India Gate. Virgin Atlantic’s services offer seamless connectivity and a premium long-haul experience onboard one of the airline’s latest products, the Airbus A350, with 40% of Indian customers choosing to connect via London Heathrow to destinations throughout North America, including the airline’s new service to Toronto, as well as Seattle, San Francisco and New York JFK. In addition, Virgin Atlantic’s partnership with IndiGo, India’s largest airline, offers connections to 34 destinations across India including Varanasi, Amritsar, Srinagar, Goa and Lucknow. Since the launch of the partnership in September 2023, the airlines have connected more than 200,000 customers across codeshare services. Virgin Atlantic continues to invest in its onboard experience for Indian customers. A recent recruitment of Indian based crew ensures that each flight to India will now average three …

We are delighted to announce the appointment of Shivani Singh Deo as Country Manager – India. Shivani has represented Virgin Atlantic for the past 8 years in the role of Marketing and Communications Manager. Prior to Virgin Atlantic, Shivani’s career included international market exposure across industries including retail, media, and lifestyle. Shivani has grown Virgin Atlantic’s brand presence in India considerably and has led high profile launches such as Mumbai, our second daily Delhi service and our IndiGo codeshare partnership, generating significant PR and media exposure. Shivani’s promotion recognises her strong performance in this role and demonstrates our desire to recognise talent from within the team. Shivani will lead our commercial strategy in India at an exciting time, as we grow our India network further in 2024 with the launch of a daily London Heathrow to Bengaluru service from 31st March 2024. Commenting on her appointment, Shivani said, “I am excited to be taking on this new role at Virgin Atlantic and lead the dynamic team in India. We will continue to champion the needs of the customer and tap the incredible growth opportunities in the Indian market.”

Virgin Atlantic is pleased to announce its first-year anniversary of the codeshare agreement with IndiGo, marking a significant milestone in the partnership. The collaboration has not only facilitated seamless travel experiences but has also opened new horizons for frequent flyers seeking enhanced connectivity and travel options.  The partnership will help customers to connect between Virgin Atlantic and IndiGo’s networks with a single ticket. The partnership has grown from strength to strength, initially launched with 8 destinations in September 2022, growing to 34 destinations across the country now. In one year more than 30,000 customers have connected between Virgin Atlantic and IndiGo’s network, with the most popular destinations being Goa, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru and Amritsar.   Alex McEwan, Country Manager, South Asia, Virgin Atlantic, commented, “We are thrilled to celebrate the first anniversary of our codeshare partnership with IndiGo, which is offering more choice for our customers across India. Our performance in India continues to go from strength to strength and we are excited to launch flights to Bengaluru from London Heathrow in March 2024 which will offer more connecting options for customers in the South of India.”    

Virgin Atlantic has introduced unlimited free date and flight changes for new bookings as part of a series of enhancements to give further flexibility to customers and support their future travel plans. Alongside the improved changes policy, the rebooking horizon has been extended for all customers all the way until 30 April 2023, giving a broader window of time to reschedule plans if needed. The updated commercial policy enables Virgin Atlantic customers making a new booking for travel up to 30 April 2022, or those with a cancelled flight up until 31 August 2021, to make as many free-of-charge changes as necessary to their travel dates, origin or destination all the way until 30 April 2023, as well as one free name change. The changes also apply to customers who already have an open ticket with credit due to flight disruption. The cost of fare difference for all customers will be completely waived if the new travel date takes place on or before 31 May 2021 – a two-month extension on the previous policy. Juha Jarvinen, Chief Commercial Officer, Virgin Atlantic, said, “We understand the difficulties that Covid-19 and ongoing travel restrictions may pose to our customers, so in order to support them we have revised and simplified our policies. By further increasing flexibility, customers making new travel plans will enjoy unlimited opportunities to make free changes, all the way until 30 April 2023, offering greater peace of mind and enabling them to book future travel with confidence. “We look forward to welcoming our customers back on board and when the time is right, flying them safely to their favourite destinations.” All Virgin Atlantic customers with a pre-existing booking made …

Under the air bubble scheme of the India and UK governments, Virgin Atlantic has announced to restart passenger flight to India from London Heathrow starting 2nd September from Delhi and 17th September from Mumbai. The airline plans to operate 3 flights a week from Delhi and four flights a week from Mumbai on 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft. Virgin Atlantic have put in place additional measures at the airport and onboard to ensure the health and safety of its people and customers. On the development, Alex McEwan, Commercial Manager India, Virgin Atlantic commented, “This year marks 20 years of flying between UK and India and we’re delighted to resume our passenger services to this beautiful country. We know many of our customers will be excited to reunite with friends and family and we are looking forward to welcoming them on board, taking to the skies safely in true Virgin Atlantic style. The health and wellbeing of our customers and crew remain our number one priority and our teams have been working tirelessly to implement new measures and evolve our experience so customers can feel confident to book and fly with us. This includes social distancing at the airport and onboard wherever possible, meticulous cleaning of the aircraft and individual Health Packs for all customers, containing medical-grade face masks, hand sanitizer and surface wipes.” The airline will be offering a simplified hot food service in all cabins, redesigned to limit interaction, enclosed and controlled from preparation in a COVID-safe, monitored environment to the moment it is served. Economy and Premium Economy customers will now enjoy a “Fly safe, eat well” meal box, which incorporates a choice of two hot meals, cheese and biscuits and …

In response to news regarding Virgin Atlantic filing for bankruptcy, the airline has denied the news and has shared that this is not a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, but it is filing which supports the solvent recapitalisation of the airline under Chapter 15. The process is proceeding with the support of the majority of airline’s creditors.

Virgin Atlantic has announced its plan to restart passenger flying to 17 additional destinations from August 2020. According to a statement released by the airline, flights from Delhi and Mumbai to London Heathrow start on the 2nd Sept 2020 and will provide connections to a range of US destinations. After the airline’s announcement that services from London Heathrow to Hong Kong, New York JFK, and Los Angeles are expected to resume from 20th and 21st July 2020, Virgin Atlantic has unveiled more detailed plans that will see passenger flying restart to many destinations across the airline’s network. Juha Jarvinen, Chief Commercial Officer, Virgin Atlantic commented: “As countries around the world begin to relax travel restrictions, we look forward to welcoming our customers back onboard and flying them safely to many destinations across our network. From 20th July we will resume services to New York, Los Angeles and Hong Kong then from 1st August onwards, we will resume passenger flying to 17 additional destinations around the world including Delhi, Mumbai and Tel Aviv.” “However, we are monitoring external conditions extremely closely, in particular the travel restrictions many countries have in place including the 14 day quarantine policy for travellers entering the UK. We know that as the Covid-19 crisis subsides, air travel will be a vital enabler of the UK’s economic recovery. Therefore, we are calling for UK Government to continually review its quarantine measures and instead look at a multi-layered approach of carefully targeted public health and screening measures, including air bridges, which will support a successful and safe restart of international air travel for passengers and businesses.” Virgin Atlantic planned return to flying from London Heathrow Terminal 2* (subject …

Virgin Atlantic has announced its plan to restart passenger flying, with services from London Heathrow to Orlando, Hong Kong, Shanghai, New York JFK and Los Angeles set to resume from 20th and 21st July 2020. As countries around the world start to relax travel restrictions, Virgin Atlantic will resume some routes on 20th July, while steadily increasing passenger flying throughout the second half of 2020, with a further, gradual recovery through 2021 in line with customer demand. On this Juha Jarvinen, Chief Commercial Officer, Virgin Atlantic said, “As the CVOID-19 crisis stabilises and demand slowly returns, we are looking forward to welcoming our customers back onboard and flying them safely to their favourite destinations. To ensure the health and safety of our customers and our people, we’re introducing new measures at every point in the journey to offer peace of mind when taking to the skies with us.” “Our planned first flights will be to Orlando and Hong Kong on the 20th July, however, we are monitoring external conditions extremely closely, in particular the travel restrictions many countries have in place including the 14-day quarantine policy for travellers entering the UK. We know that as the Covid-19 crisis subsides, air travel will be a vital enabler of the UK’s economic recovery. Therefore, we are calling for a multi-layered approach of carefully targeted public health and screening measures, which will allow for a successful and safe restart of international air travel for passengers and businesses. We are planning to announce more destination restart dates in the next two weeks for the month of August.” Virgin Atlantic planned return to flying from London Heathrow Terminal 2* Flights will be loaded into systems …