Virgin Atlantic Receives First Airbus A350-1000

Virgin Atlantic Receives First Airbus A350-1000

Aaron Hilsz-Lothian·
A350AirbusAirbus IndustrieAviation NewsVirgin Atlantic

In a delivery ceremony held in Toulouse, Virgin Atlantic became the second UK airline to take delivery of an Airbus A350-1000.

The aircraft, registered G-VLUX serial number 274, is the first of 12 ordered by the airline.

With deliveries spread out to 2021, the new aircraft will be used to gradually replace their Airbus A340-600 and Boeing 747-400 fleet.

Virgin Atlantic will launch international flights with their new A350-1000, starting with the London Heathrow to New York John F Kennedy route on September 10th.

What’s felt like a vicious competition to offer the best product, Virgin Atlantic and British Airways are now proud owners of the largest member of the A350 family.

Virgin Atlantic has invested a considerable amount of time and money to develop a state-of-the-art cabin for their fleet of A350-1000s.

Virgin Atlantic’s Airbus A350-1000 will feature a three class cabin, broken down into the following:

CabinSeat Count
Upper Class (Business)44
Premium Economy56
Economy235

Upper Class

Set up in a 1-2-1 configuration with seats facing outwards towards the windows, Upper Class offers passengers with a comfortable and modern seat.

The 44 inch seat pitch with the option to go completely flat, at a length of 82 inches, is completely seamless in that passengers do not have to depart the seat to make such a large adjustment.

Virgin Atlantic Receives First Airbus A350-1000
Virgin Atlantic A350-1000 Business Class

Entertainment wise Upper Class boasts an 18.5″ high-definition touch displays that can be controlled using your own personal device, or the provided controller.

A social area called The Loft has also been implemented into Virgin Atlantic’s A350-1000, with lounge seating and small snack tables.

Visitors of The Loft can also enjoy entertainment from a 32″ TV screen that can be connected to personal Bluetooth headsets.

Virgin Atlantic Receives First Airbus A350-1000
Virgin Atlantic A350-1000 “The Loft”

Premium Economy

Premium economy is no slouch either, with seats offering a recline of seven” and a pitch of 38″.

A 13.3″ high-definition display will allow premium passengers to enjoy the vast collection of entertainment options Virgin Atlantic has fitted to the aircraft.

Virgin Atlantic Receives First Airbus A350-1000
Virgin Atlantic Airbus A350-1000 Premium Economy

Economy

Economy is configured in a 3-3-3 layout for nine-abreast seating. This results in a seat width of 17.4″ for most passengers; although it is common that there are a few wider or slimmer ones depending on location.

Delight seats come with extra legroom thanks to their position in the cabin around exits and galleys.

Virgin Atlantic Receives First Airbus A350-1000
Virgin Atlantic Airbus A350-1000 Economy

Unlike British Airways, Virgin Atlantic opted to retain passenger access to the iconic tail camera as well!

Across all three cabins, high-speed wireless internet is available as well as USB charging ports.

For a dedicated post on the cabin unveiling, check out this article:

First look at Virgin Atlantic’s new A350-1000

The A350-1000 is just the beginning for Virgin Atlantic. Thanks to its excellent operating performance, the airline will save a significant amount on money and contribute to a cleaner sky.

Joining the A350-1000 is the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, which alongside their recent order for the Airbus A330neo, will provide Virgin Atlantic with a highly-sophisticated fleet for passengers, operations and the environment.

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Do you have any plans to try out their A350-1000?

Aaron Hilsz-Lothian

Based in Sydney Australia, Aaron currently works as as a load control planner among the regional operation centre of a major airline. In addition to this, he has multiple years of experience in a frontline aviation environment including ramp, customer acceptance and freight. Writing casually for Sam Chui since 2018, he intends to use his experience in the industry to answer everyday questions that passengers often ponder and to shed light on the complex systems that make aviation so fascinating.

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2 Responses

  1. What a beauty! I feel the service will better than BA at every class level!
    Since BA have started some training flights some other bloggers have noticed some rather alarming issues in quality control in their new club suite! I have a feeling Virgin Upper class will be better ! Looking forward to fly on one and with them too! Strange why BA did not have ceremony like Virgin Atlantic as I think Iberia did for theirs and that’s part of the OneWorld group!??

    Besides that with the tail-fin ,I do wished they did what they did for their orbital space plane and instead of having the red have the fading white paint hit the polished aluminum look and have virgin on the chrome looking tail fin in red would have looked much better and even some more red on the fuselage design would have been nice too! Too much white paint for my likes.

    Reply

  2. I see there is no mention of the fact that the A350-1000’s have shrunken seat widths in Premium from 21” to 18.5” and cut the recline by an inch. Even Upper Class seats have shrunk width from 22 to 20”. Only economy remains the same at an already barely comfortable 17.4”.
    I know sites like this get carried away with the glamour of it all and depend on the good will of airlines but explaining some of the negatives would help too. As a frequent Virgin Atlantic flyer to JFK and SFO these things matter to me. Especially the premium seats as that’s little bigger than ordinary economy used to be.
    Yes I can fit easily into them, but the luxury of a wider seat, being able to wiggle about and get really comfortable- that’s what you pay the extra for! And now they’ve taken it away.

    Reply

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