Product Details

In July 2016 Virgin Atlantic announced an order for 12 Airbus A350-1000 aircraft, to eventually replace the ageing 4-engined Boeing 747-400 and Airbus A340-600 fleets. The order consists of 8 aircraft which will be purchased directly from Airbus, with a further 4 acquired through leasing companies. It is expected that the 12 A350-1000s on order will be split into 2 separate configurations, a business-oriented, premium heavy configuration, and leisure-oriented, economy heavy configuration for select routes to the Caribbean, Las Vegas, and Orlando, Florida. The first aircraft is scheduled to be delivered in 2019, with the Rolls-Royce XWB engine selected (the only available option for the Airbus A350 line-up). This order will leave Virgin with a streamlined fleet of Airbus A330s, A350s and Boeing 787 aircraft, leaving just 2 pilot pools and increasing cost efficiencies.