Founded in 1984 by music industry tycoon Richard Branson, Virgin Atlantic developed through the years a network including destinations in North and South America, Africa and Asia. It only has widebody aircraft in its fleet, though it decided to retire the Airbus A340-600 and Boeing 747-400 four-engined aircraft following the Covid-19 crises. As air travel demand plunged, VS withdrew its London Gatwick base, concentrating operations at Heathrow. In 2012 49% of its shares was acquired by Delta Airlines, while a deal to sell another 21% to Air France-KLM fell through in late 2019. Virgin’s Premium Economy has been awarded the title of “World’s best” by Skytrax (Photo Wikimedia Commons / Adam Moreira)
- - 5 STARS: Awarded to airlines achieving a very high, overall quality performance. It recognizes high standards of onboard product together with consistent and excellent standards of staff service across airport and cabin environments
- - 4 STARS: Awarded to airlines that deliver a good overall quality performance and provide good product standards across different travel cabins
- - 3 STARS: Awarded to airlines delivering a fair quality performance equating to the industry 'average' of acceptable product and service standards
- - 2 STARS: Shows airlines delivering a lower total quality performance, in some instances below the industry average across many rating categories
- - 1 STAR: Represents a poor quality of product delivered across the assessment sectors
* SKYTRAX (www.skytraxratings.com) is the most prestigious independent rating agency in commercial aviation. Its five stars rating system regarding airline quality has become a status symbol for carriers around the world. Here is what the stars stand for: