Virgin Atlantic

Virgin Atlantic is a British airline with its head office in Crawley, West Sussex. It was set up in 1984 as British Atlantic Airways by Randolph Fields and Alan Hellary, and soon after the name change Fields sold his shares to Richard Branson. Its holding company is 51% owned by the Virgin Group and 49% by Delta Air Lines.

Condé Nast Traveller readers rank Virgin Atlantic No. 3 among the world's airlines in the Readers' Choice Awards 2026, up from No. 8 in the 2025 edition. The AirHelp Score 2025 for airlines also places it No. 3.

The airline's maiden flight ran from London Gatwick to Newark on 22 June 1984, using a leased Boeing 747 christened Maiden Voyager, with tickets sold at Virgin Megastores record shops. Today it flies a mixed fleet of Airbus and Boeing wide-body jets from its main hub at Heathrow and a secondary hub at Manchester to North America, the Caribbean, Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Its aircraft have three cabins: Economy, Premium and Upper Class. Virgin Atlantic joined the SkyTeam alliance in March 2023.

Sources of this text: Wikipedia · Condé Nast Traveller (UK) · AirHelp