British carrier Virgin Atlantic is on pace to complete its fleet modernisation is the coming years. The airline wants to operate an all-widebody fleet of new generation aircraft by 2028 and has placed an order for seven more Airbus A330-900neo.
Virgin Atlantic already had orders for twelve A330-900neos, of which five have so far been delivered. They are being operated alongside ten previous-generation A330-300 and twelve A350-1000. According to Virgin Atlantic CEO Shai Weiss, the airline will have 19 A330-900neo by Q1 2028.
Future fleet plans
In 2028, Virgin will operate a fleet of 45 aircraft, as per current plans, Weiss said. Apart from 12 A350-1000 and 19 A330neo, there will be 14 Boeing 787 Dreamliners. Even though that number is slightly down from the current fleet of 17 787s, it means that Virgin will extend lease agreements for most of its Boeing fleet and therefore ruling out the possibility of switching to an all-Airbus fleet for the foreseeable future.
For a potential fleet expansion, Virgin has also secured purchase rights for nine additional Airbus A330neo aircraft as part of this new order. When asked if Virgin would consider re-opening flight operations at London’s Gatwick Airport with additional airplanes, Shai Weiss responded with “never say never“. Of the current 44-aircraft-strong fleet, five are based in Manchester and 39 at London Heathrow Airport.
A330neo at Farnborough Airshow
The order announcement was made in unusual fashion on board Virgin Atlantic’s five-week-old A330-900neo which it put on static display at Farnborough Airshow 2024. Registered as G-VSRB after the company’s founder, Sir Richard Branson, the aircraft is painted in a special livery to commemorate the airline’s 40th birthday.
Whilst on board the aircraft this morning, the flight crew told International Flight Network that on their flagship London Heathrow to New York JFK route, the A330-900 burns approximately 5.5 tonnes less fuel than the A330-300.
Jakob Wert is an aviation journalist from Germany. He built up the website IFN.news and is the Editor-In-Chief of International Flight Network.
