This was Sir Richard Branson’s bold message to BA when he landed in Edinburgh yesterday – you’ve got stiff competition now! Sir Richard arrived on Virgin Atlantic’s new Little Red service from Heathrow this morning along with YourHols Trisha Harbord (above). Get in quick because the airline is selling return flights over the next two days for £99 valid for travel over the next two months.
The new service will run 26 flights a day on Heathrow flights to and from shuttle flights from Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Manchester allowing passengers from around the country to connect with Virgin Atlantic’s extensive network. It will carry up to a million passengers a year, create 375 jobs in the UK and generate £75m in visitor spend for the Scottish economy.
Flights should be cheaper than rival BA as Virgin Atlantic is offering tax and charge only fares for travel on Little Red in May and June as a special celebratory rate.
Sir Richard said: “Today marks the start of an exciting new chapter in Virgin Atlantic’s history. Our product, service and flair are known throughout the world, and we’re thrilled to be bringing that to domestic flying. Virgin Atlantic Little Red is the next step on our exciting journey, allowing us to offer a more connected network which will deliver sustained and effective competition at home and around the world.
“We’re really looking forward to welcoming on board millions of passengers between Heathrow, Manchester, Edinburgh and Aberdeen and to restoring consumer choice on these routes.”
Sir Richard was welcomed to Scotland by Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon who said: “I am delighted to welcome the launch of Virgin Atlantic’s Little Red flights between Scotland and Heathrow. These new flights from Edinburgh and Aberdeen will create jobs, offer passengers easier access to Virgin’s global destinations and provide competition on these routes, resulting in a better deal for passengers.
“Good access to Heathrow, the UK’s only hub airport, is essential for Scotland’s economic development. The Scottish Government is also keen to see more direct international flights from Scotland and we continue to press for Air Passenger Duty to be devolved as quickly as possible to provide the means to incentivise this.”
Sir Richard was joined in Scotland by Virgin Atlantic’s new Chief Executive Craig Kreeger. Speaking publically for the first time as CEO, he said: “Everyone at Virgin Atlantic is thrilled to be launching our first ever domestic service and we’re excited to be here in Scotland today to celebrate that launch.
“The Heathrow-Edinburgh route is key to Little Red’s strategy to provide strong and effective competition – it is the busiest UK air route with Edinburgh being a thriving financial centre and the seat of the Scottish government. Virgin Atlantic flies to over 30 destinations around the globe and passengers can now start their journey with us even closer to home.”
Little Red flights will operate to and from Heathrow Terminal 1 with excellent connections with Virgin Atlantic’s international flights from Terminal 3. The top three connections from Edinburgh are Narita in Tokyo – with three times as many bookings so far as any other connecting destination – JFK and San Francisco.
From Aberdeen, JFK and Shanghai are popular destinations and from Manchester New York JFK is the runaway leader, with Los Angeles and San Francisco also popular choices with connecting passengers.
