Fantastic news about VS, Thomas Cook showed it could be done on long haul P2P leisure, I suspect Virgin may end up doing it better, coupled with Flying Club as an additional incentive. The flybe codeshare is cherry on the cake, this is primarily a local operation. Pre-emptive strike against Norwegian perhaps, much like BA at LGW?
As for "Gatwick Fleet Shackles", well come on, it's a summer holiday flight and not daily at that, but all the same I suspect will do really well. You need to serve the market you have, not the one you'd prefer. It's the A330-343E operating which rotate between LHR/LGW as one fleet. Delta coseshares at the US will really help this one, mind you that's what we all thought about BMI and United on IAD/ORD. Delta doing wonders for VS focus IMHO.