A339 DELIVERIES

The new config starts in 26 apparently.

When's the next A339 due I thought it was December.

The next A339 MSN2077 (will be G-VPIE, Cherry Bakewell) had it's first test flight Dec 11th so not too far away now.

Thanks James was asking as had a few family members flying back from the states they got Jane Air on VS 74.

[mitchja]

G-VPIE (Cherry Bakewell) had her TLS>LHR delivery flight yesterday (Dec 21st).

This gives VS a total of 8 x A339's now.

With this latest delivery, does anyone know how many A339s are supposed to be delivered in 2025 and roughly what the delivery schedule is?

G-VPIE first flight was to DXB and has been doing that for the past week. I could be wrong but are VS not taking a break from deliveries in 2025. VS typically take. 4 NEO’s a year and there is an increase focus from VS leadership on owning aircraft now rather than leasing. With the 787 engine issues VS might need deliveries in 2025 after all.

Yes, Virgin are not scheduled to receive any Neos this year. Unless they can negotiate with Airbus to bring the deliveries forward. The last 4 of the original order are to be delivered within 2026.
With the additional 7 to be received by Q1 2028.
I hope with the 787s we will see a refit soon, as they are planning to keep 14 of these; and with 3 different J seats, again it will be Russian roulette

When's the next A339 due I thought it was December.

The next A339 MSN2077 (will be G-VPIE, Cherry Bakewell) had it's first test flight Dec 11th so not too far away now.

Thanks James was asking as had a few family members flying back from the states they got Jane Air on VS 74.

I flew back on Jane Air yesterday - there were SO many mechanical issues with the suites that the poor FSM was running around all flight placating passengers. I saw one passenger have so many issues the pilot or FO came out to see him/her . The CC hate them as difficult to serve over the door and passenger complaints on every flight …….

[mitchja]

It’s also down to lack of training as many of the crew don’t know how to sort issues with the A339 J seat. When my J seat failed to go flat last year, the crew had no idea what to do about it. The fact that they even tried resetting the IFE to see if that would fix the seat issue shows the lack of training!

It took them 30mins to find the manual release so the seat would go flat.

I’ve had to ask crew to unlock doors after takeoff several times as well as well as seeing many of the doors slamming open on landing because they have not been locked open before landing.

There seems to be a general lack of knowledge and service training for the A339 A/C unfortunately.

This is the aircraft and seats that have been in service now since October 2022 and there’s 8 in the fleet so far……

[mitchja]

The next VS A339 spotted at Toulouse (MSN2138) Feb 20th.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/146519169 ... 106779999/

[mitchja]

So, from today's MAN 30year press release, it looks like the next A339 (MSN2138) will be G-VMAN - Champagne Supernova.

The irony is though it's going to be a while until the A339's actually op full time at MAN. Other than the odd swap, the A339's don't visit MAN much at all. I flew ATL>MAN last year on an A339, though we ended up diverting to LHR due to weather.

I think perhaps G-VMAN might actually come to MAN when due.

Currently scheduled 4 Neo deliveries this year, and 7 next year.

There are only 6 A333 operating. And I think half are on MAN anyway (ATL, JFK, MCO).

Maybe they will base it at MAN in the summer with it being the FIFA World Cup, from past experiences with VS from MAN they only load it into the system 30 days prior to departure. I'm booked in seat 1A for my upcoming flight to ATL so if the aircraft does get swapped I will be very happy.

MAN will probably be the last base to lose the A333.

[mitchja]

Another reason I doubt we will see G-VMAN at MAN is because isn't this A339 going to be the first one with a larger J cabin?

Another reason I doubt we will see G-VMAN at MAN is because isn't this A339 going to be the first one with a larger J cabin?

That hasn’t stopped VS from using lower density A350s at times, though I accept it’s different from the days when LHR-based 747s appeared when they were short.

I suspect G-VMAN will be used like any other A330 and simply assigned to routes where that cabin is advertised. If it appears at MAN at some point, so be it. There have been other aircraft registered (or even named) after destinations in the past and they weren’t necessarily dedicated to those routes.

Another reason I doubt we will see G-VMAN at MAN is because isn't this A339 going to be the first one with a larger J cabin?

No according to my source, it’s a normal one. The bigger upper one comes in October/November.

Are they likely to move an older 330 on right away once a 339 arrives to the fleet? If so and 4 are due this year MAN could see them before the end of the year

Highly likely that Manchester will have the 300 until the last one goes.

The new config is on sale today on the 45 from November.

[mitchja]

The new config is on sale today on the 45 from November.

Well spotted!

So we are indeed back to having a split Upper Class cabin either side of door 2. That was never good on the A343's (babybus) if anyone remembers those

4 extra Retreat Suites in the back section of the cabin, all the bulkhead row.

The VS seat maps are not the best as they don't include seat numbers now but here goes:

Front cabin
IMG_4647.png (947.12 KiB) Viewed 52239 times

Back cabin
IMG_4648.png (931.89 KiB) Viewed 52239 times

The single retreat suites will be interesting. I had assumed it would just be 2 middle rows, one behind the other in the enlarged cabin.

David

[mitchja]

Just occurred to me....DL seat maps are far easier to see and screenshot (search for the DL 5995 flight = VS 45) :

Upper Class
Screenshot 2026-05-23 at 18.27.29.png (100.05 KiB) Viewed 50006 times

Premium
Screenshot 2026-05-23 at 18.28.30.png (64.89 KiB) Viewed 50006 times

Economy
Screenshot 2026-05-23 at 18.28.57.png (163.74 KiB) Viewed 50006 times

Total seats = 232 (48 J / 56 W / 128 Y) making this VS's largest Upper Class config to date.

Just occurred to me....DL seat maps are far easier to see and screenshot (search for the DL 5995 flight = VS 45) :

Screenshot 2026-05-23 at 18.27.29.png

Screenshot 2026-05-23 at 18.28.30.png

Screenshot 2026-05-23 at 18.28.57.png

Total seats = 228 (48 J / 56 W / 128 Y) making this VS's largest Upper Class config to date.

Having a split cabin is pretty obvious even without the seat map. The front of the current Neo is 32. They couldn’t possibly fit 48 up there in the same space, were you expecting bunk beds?

https://www.virginatlantic.com/experien ... us-a330neo

Don't know if this is new, or I haven't spotted it before, but VS seem to have updated their fleet pages. It lists aircraft registration for each type along with seat maps etc. How up to date it is, is anyones guess but it doesn't have the next 900 on it yet.

David

[mitchja]

VS have updated their seat map on the fleet page which shows the exact layout of the new Retreat Suites.