Gatwick-2
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Virgin Atlantic have just announced on twitter that they are moving the Gatwick to Las Vegas route to Heathrow from March 31st 2019 where it will be operated by the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
Join Date: Aug 2004
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QR touched down
https://www.qatarairways.com/en/pres...Press-releases
https://www.qatarairways.com/en/pres...Press-releases
Join Date: Mar 2004
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Does anyone know what will be filling the vacant slot left at LGW with the relocation of the Las Vegas service to LHR?
I’d be interested to know what VS would be putting in its place as I can’t imagine them giving the slot up.
I’d be interested to know what VS would be putting in its place as I can’t imagine them giving the slot up.
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With The full joint venture coming into place with JW/AFKL and DL I think the beach fleet and Virgin Holidays might be on borrowed time imho.
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Yeap Toledo general tear down quite apparent and whilst slot constrained and ACL controlled there isn’t much need to operate protection routes out of Gatwick imho !
Seems Delta have better plans for their UK holdings in fortifying the North Atlantic from Heathrow and Manchester and just possibly transferring the odd ball Edinburgh - JFK service over in the near future.
Seems Delta have better plans for their UK holdings in fortifying the North Atlantic from Heathrow and Manchester and just possibly transferring the odd ball Edinburgh - JFK service over in the near future.
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With VS withdrawing from Cancun and now that Las Vegas is being transferred to LHR I think that we're probably see the Orlando route moving over to LHR at some point leaving just the Caribbean routes to Antigua, Barbados, Grenada, Havana, St Lucia, Tobago and Varadero remaining at LGW, at that point I wouldn't be surprised to see the LGW beach fleet operation sold off and VS only London airport being LHR.
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Since Virgin Holidays is a Virgin Group company and quite separate to the airline these days it doesn’t need flogging off, whilst I suspect they could quite easily move the flying programme away from VS if pushed.
The 747-400 fleet are approaching retirement pretty soon and VS haven’t confirmed if the A350s are to take their place or more likely will simply go to Heathrow.
Those 4 ex AB A332 frames seem to be a stop gap whilst the A333 fleet substitute for broken B789s at the moment.
The 747-400 fleet are approaching retirement pretty soon and VS haven’t confirmed if the A350s are to take their place or more likely will simply go to Heathrow.
Those 4 ex AB A332 frames seem to be a stop gap whilst the A333 fleet substitute for broken B789s at the moment.
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Canberra - The rationale Virgin have given to move Vegas to LHR is that they think they can attract more premium passengers, and the 787-9 is certainly more premium heavy. The next most 'premium heavy' route at Gatwick would be Barbados - so if anything else moved, I would expect it to be that.. Also Varadero has gone - the frequency has been given back to Havana.
You could imagine VS selling the beach fleet to Virgin Holidays though.
BAengineer - Often wondered if BA could make a go out of somewhere like Los Cabos or Puerta Vallarta (especially considering the upscale resorts like Punta Mita).
You could imagine VS selling the beach fleet to Virgin Holidays though.
BAengineer - Often wondered if BA could make a go out of somewhere like Los Cabos or Puerta Vallarta (especially considering the upscale resorts like Punta Mita).
Join Date: Feb 2018
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Virgin Atlantic is owned by Delta now and they are a premium focused airline so it'll be premium heavy routes that'll be the focus on in the future.
What could happen with Virgin Holidays is a dedicated sub fleet and the holidays brand essentially chartering it to the less premium heavy destinations. Virgin Holidays though will probably use other airlines more in the future similar to what they do for many of the Far East holidays they sell.
What could happen with Virgin Holidays is a dedicated sub fleet and the holidays brand essentially chartering it to the less premium heavy destinations. Virgin Holidays though will probably use other airlines more in the future similar to what they do for many of the Far East holidays they sell.
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Delta has a 49% stake in Virgin so does not own them. Seems strange to me that Virgin would consider giving up so much of the leisure market from Gatwick. Are they under pressure from a resurgent BA at Gatwick and Norwegian?
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They are the major shareholder so they are the one's pulling the strings and theyll pull them to more premium traffic at LHR.
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Considering there will be zero business traffic on that route and therefore very little premium class pax I cant see how BA could make any money.
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Virgin
With VRA short lived and now CUN and LAS being terminated at LGW. Whats next for Virgin Atlantic at LGW? Delta obivously pulling the strings and shaping the airline to their strategic business plan. Moving LAS to LHR does make sense, with higher yields through less economy %, transfer possibilities through AF and KLM which have no link to LAS and the apparent higher business pax traffic at LHR. This does however leaves LGW with a even more limited choice of destinations. I am aware the number of A350's on order does mean there will be a general cut to capacity when they retire all the 747s and A340s, unless they keep the AB aircraft. Not that I want to assume they will bring in any new routes but if they did where do you realistically think they would go from LGW? I cannot think of any...
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Gatwick has struggled for years with its business model. BA tried to turn it into a mainline hub but that didn't work, Virgin went after the longhaul holiday traffic but that seems to be flagging. The success of Easyjet at LGW seems to be the pointer for the future - a shorthaul low cost operation seems to be the best fit.
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