Hi there, from my experience- no they will not start calling people until after application closing date. I guess this gives them time to go through all applications and contact the best suited applicants. I wouldn't expect a call until at least 2 weeks after application closing date for a telephone interview (if successful in your application)....if you make it through telephone interview- they usually ask you to attend a recruitment day at the end of the conversation...if you make it through recruitment day..then it's reference checks....then another phone call to have a medical.....then job offer.
They don't take so long to make it harder, simply they just have rediculous ammounts of people apply and it's such a big company it'd be a tough job with timelines etc. The staff at Virgin are great though- nice, fair people.
It's a long road so try and be patient and think about something else. Also...if you make through recruit day, unless you have a really bad reference (who would really write down a person who'd give them a bad one?) or fail the drug test or whatever at the medical- they almost always offer you a job...so.....wait until after recruitment day before you really start thinking too much! good luck!