Inflight Entertainment

Virgin Atlantic currently have three different types of inflight entertainment systems across their fleet, and Virgin America one. The stated goal for Virgin Atlantic - for some years - is eventually move all aircraft to the V:Port system; however progress on this has been slow and we may potentially see a replacement for V:Port before all aircraft have it fitted. One reason for the delay is cost - reportedly $2M per aircraft. A string of events, such as 9/11, SARS and $70-a-barrel oil prices have caused all airlines to look carefully at their capital expenditure, and in the specific case of Virgin Atlantic their priorities seem to have shifted - initially from the Upper Class Suite, and more recently to the Premium Economy relaunch and Clubhouse programme.

The weakest area in the line-up is the Nova/SuperNova system on the LGW/MAN aircraft. These planes were originally a cancelled Alitalia order, which Virgin picked up (one would expect at a good discount) on lease, and hence the non-standard IFE. As they've been on lease, their future has been uncertain, and it's understandable why Virgin would be hesitant to spend significant amounts on upgrades for aircraft they might not be keeping, but recent announcements (Feb 2010) mean Virgin have extended their lease and will not only be fitting out the LGW/MAN fleet with new seating, but also a new entertainment system. Speculation is that they may leapfrog over V:Port, and go for a newer system potentially more like Red - which is used by Virgin America, but was originally developed in conjunction with Virgin Atlantic.

Below is a run down of the current systems in place, and the aircraft that have these systems fitted.

Odyssey

Aircraft delivered between 1997 and 2002 were fitted with state-of-the-art Matsushita Avionic Systems IFE. The Odyssey system offers 20 channels of entertainment plus much more as follows:

• 10 movie channels
• 2 kids channels (featuring a combination of movies and tv programming)
• 8 TV channels featuring music, sport & news, comedy and kids programming plus the exclusive Virgin Travel guide
• 14 audio channels ranging from soul to Classical music
• A choice of 35 Nintendo Games
• Moving Skymap display which plots the aircraft's flight path
• In-seat telephones (located on the reverse of the handset)

The Odyssey system is on a selection of 747-400 and A340 aircraft.

Registration	Aircraft Type	Aircraft Name
G-VAST	747-41R	Ladybird
G-VXLG	747-41R	Ruby Tuesday
G-VTOP	747-4Q8	Virginia Plain
G-VELD	A340-300	African Queen
G-VFAR	A340-311	Diana
G-VHOL	A340-311	Jetstreamer
G-VSEA	A340-311	Plain Sailing
G-VAIR	A340-313	Maiden Tokyo

Super Nova

During the summer of 2001 Virgin took delivery of five 747-400 aircraft (the cancelled Alitalia order), these were fitted with an Inflight Entertainment system new to Virgin Atlantic supplied by Thales. The new product, called 'Nova' has 8 channels of seat back entertainment consisting of:

• Movie channels
• 2 kids channels (featuring a combination of movies and tv programming)
• 1 TV channel which works on a cycle basis showing a selection of current TV programming
• 14 audio channels ranging from soul to Classical music
• Moving Skymap display which plots the aircraft's flight path
• Bulkhead Telephone

The Nova system is on a selection of LGW/MAN 747-400. As these aircraft had Suite fit-outs, they got "Super Nova" (an enhanced version of Nova, but it still ain't V:Port).

Registration	Aircraft Type	Aircraft Name
G-VGAL	747-443	Jersey Girl
G-VLIP	747-443	Hot Lips
G-VROM	747-443	Barbarella
G-VROS	747-443	English Rose
G-VROY	747-443	Pretty Woman

V:Port

This system is onboard 747-400s and A340-600s. It offers Video on Demand where passengers can watch or listen to what they want and can start, pause or rewind their chosen movie, TV show or CD. What it features:

• 10.4 inch screen in Upper Class
• 9 inch screen in Premium Economy / Economy
• 300 hours of Video on Demand content
• 14 channels of Audio on Demand and a jukebox with over 45 CDs ranging from Chopin to Elvis Presley to PJ Harvey. Passengers can listen to an entire CD or just an individual track.
  
• A selection of audio books
• 15 computer games, of which 3 are multi-player and one, Battlemail Kung-fu, has been developed exclusively for Virgin
• A Quick Find facility that allows passengers to look for films starring their favourite movie star, comedy shows or language programming
• A dedicated Kid’s Zone that has it’s own menus and contains programming suitable for children and a parental block
• The system will allows passengers to send emails and SMS messages.
• IMap is a brand new fully interactive map application - not only can passengers track their flight, but they can also roam around the world, zoom in on different destinations and points of interest.

Email and Intranet was promised as "coming soon" in 2003, but has yet to materialise.

The V:Port system is on all A340-600 series and certain 747-400 aircraft.

Registration	Aircraft Type	Aircraft Name
G-VROC	747-41R	Mustang Sally
G-VWOW	747-41R	Cosmic Girl
G-VBIG	747-4Q8	Tinker Belle
G-VFAB	747-4Q8	Lady Penelope
G-VHOT	747-4Q8	Tubular Belle
G-VSUN	A340-311	Rainbow Lady
G-VATL	A340-642	Miss Kitty
G-VBLU	A340-642	Soul Sister
G-VBUG	A340-642	Lady Bird
G-VEIL	A340-642	Queen Of The Skies
G-VFIT	A340-642	Dancing Queen
G-VFIZ	A340-642	Bubbles
G-VFOX	A340-642	Silver Lady
G-VGAS	A340-642	Varga Girl
G-VGOA	A340-642	Indian Princess
G-VMEG	A340-642	Mystic Maiden
G-VNAP	A340-642	Sleeping Beauty
G-VOGE	A340-642	Cover Girl
G-VRED	A340-642	Scarlet Lady
G-VSHY	A340-642	Madam Butterfly
G-VSSH	A340-642	Sweet Dreamer
G-VWEB	A340-642	Surfer Girl
G-VWIN	A340-642	Lady Luck
G-VWKD	A340-642	Miss Behavin
G-VYOU	A340-642	Emmeline Heaney
G-VXXL	A380-800	Virgin Lady

Red

This system is used on Virgin America aircraft based on the Linux operating system, and originally developed in conjunction with Virgin Atlantic. A touch-screen interface is used to order menu items, play games, shop or watch content including TV and latest Hollywood releases. The content on Red is a mixture of free and chargeable - the latter being paid for by swiping your credit/debit card in the controller handset. Red also features Google Maps and GoGo internet - so you can keep in touch with V-Flyer wherever you are ;-)

Registration	Aircraft Type	Aircraft Name
N521VA	A319-112	Let There Be Flight
N522VA	A319-112	The 1 Year-Old Virgin
N523VA	A319-112	Contents May Be Under Pressure
N524VA	A319-112	Dark Horse
N525VA	A319-112	Virgin & Tonic
N526VA	A319-112	Jane
N527VA	A319-112	Tubular Belle
N528VA	A319-112	Fog Cutter
N621VA	A320-214	Air Colbert
N622VA	A320-214	California Dreaming
N624VA	A320-214	Red, White & Blue
N625VA	A320-214	Jefferson Airplane
N626VA	A320-214	Unicorn Chaser
N627VA	A320-214	Runway Angel
N628VA	A320-214	Entourage Air
N630VA	A320-214	Superfly
N631VA	A320-214	Chic Mobile
N634VA	A320-214	Mach Daddy
N635VA	A320-214	My Other Ride's A Spaceship
N636VA	A320-214	Airplane 2.0
N637VA	A320-214	An Airplane Named Desire
N638VA	A320-214	San Francisco Pride