The Virgin pay deal was negotiated a couple of years ago, and involved both an increase in basic pay and the introduction of an element of productivity pay and profit-related pay. These combine to produce the £13 (or so) per block hour that FNG refers to. (This figure is for FOs). The net result was an increase of around 25% in real terms over the three years of the pay deal for all VS pilots. Prior to the deal, Virgin was arguably the western world's worst-paid long haul airline (though there were other lifestyle advantages which mostly remain). That is no longer the case! The deal was negotiated by our excellent BALPA CC, with the strong backing of a 90+% BALPA membership.
The options of part-time working are being worked on by the company and the CC, and I believe there will be some limited opportunity for the B744 fleet to bid for this next year. It may be some time before a similar opportunity arises for A340 crew. The fact that increased working hours are available gives a clue to the fact that we are to some extent undercrewed, and why therefore reduced-hours contracts are not yet in place. That said, there are many, many VS pilots who commute from overseas at present.