Virgin Atlantic Airways

Virgin Atlantic Airways is the trading name under which Virgin Atlantic, a British airline based in Crawley, West Sussex, flies. Its main hub is London Heathrow and its secondary hub Manchester. The company behind it is owned 51 per cent by the Virgin Group and 49 per cent by Delta Air Lines.

Travel + Leisure readers ranked Virgin Atlantic Airways No. 8 among international airlines in the World's Best Awards 2026, with a score of 86.73. The passage from the magazine is a ranking list and adds no further comment on the airline.

The airline began in 1984 as British Atlantic Airways, founded by Randolph Fields and Alan Hellary, and was soon renamed; Fields then sold his stake to Richard Branson. Its first flight, from London Gatwick to Newark, took off on 22 June 1984. It now flies Airbus and Boeing wide-body jets to North America, the Caribbean, Africa, the Middle East and Asia.

Sources of this text: Wikipedia · Travel + Leisure