Originally Posted by
Skipness One Foxtrot
Brian, retrenching to LHR means operating the Beach Fleet from there. LGW was 3-5 flights per day in summer and with traffic collapsing, they could operate the portfolio from LHR and move back to LGW if and when traffic bounces back that they really need the slots. It doesn’t mean closing all LGW routes, it means serving London from one airport.
That is possible and makes sense. Perhaps the future of VS looks like MCO/Caribbean for Virgin Holidays and DL hubs/focus cities in the US, with JNB, TLV and maybe HKG rounding out the network. Its going to be a drastically reduced network and at least one fleet type will surely go. Perhaps the A350’s will get a beach fleet layout to replace the 747s immediately and the 787s will do the rest, with the A330s dumped? Or vice-versa, does VS really need the capabilities of the 787 over the A330 on any of their routes? JNB and HKG, I guess?