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#955737 by Moley
05 May 2020, 14:23
VS to retain LGW slots.

747s to go ASAP, 333-200s by Summer 2022.

Virgin Holidays to become Virgin Atlantic Holidays. 25% of stores to close as Virgin focuses on tie-up with Next (as opposed to Debenhams?)

Thoughts with staff.
Last edited by Moley on 05 May 2020, 14:54, edited 1 time in total.
#955738 by gumshoe
05 May 2020, 14:23
Moley wrote:There goes the 747s.

Orlando to continue from Heathrow?

Gatwick is really is a rotten place now.


Hard to see how it would need two terminals going forward, at least for the next few years with VS, Thomas Cook & Monarch all gone and BA & Norwegian set to be drastically slimmed down there.
#955739 by Q_Division
05 May 2020, 14:26
Not good and sad for everyone involved. I do wonder what it means for my upcoming LGW flight though, presumable LHR and I have no idea what the plane will be (as it's "currently" a 747-400).
#955742 by David
05 May 2020, 14:42
Had heard this was a possibility a few days ago, but you always hope for the best. Thoughts are with all the VS staff at this tough time.

David
#955745 by Moley
05 May 2020, 14:47
Clearly this ensures the use of all the VS slots at LHR despite scaled back frequencies on other routes. if VS fail to use/lease and thus loose at LGW slot the cost is some 80% to reaquire and possibly less given the capacity being freed up.

I have a soft spot for Gatwick but LHR is more convenient by car/coach. Gatwick is great by train but only if your flight times fit.
#955747 by Moley
05 May 2020, 14:54
One also has to wonder re Heathrow’s strategy. Runway three is presumably in the very long grass now especially with so much Gatwick capacity.

Read article other day suggesting LHR capacity over next 5 years meant didn’t need to reopen both T3 and T4. Might this be opportunity to push on with Terminal 2B, demolish T3 and only retain T4 until T2B finished. It seem to suggested that once T3 was gone there was provision for another set of remote gates accessed from either T5 or T2 by transit system. Might be journalist adding 2&2 to get 5 but when I find article will post link.
#955748 by David
05 May 2020, 14:56
BBC article updated with news quotes "It said it intended to keep its slots at Gatwick "so it can return in line with customer demand". "
#955749 by Vegas4me
05 May 2020, 14:57
Virgins full press release here https://corporate.virginatlantic.com/gb/en/media/press-releases/Our-post-Covid19-future.html
They say have “intention of retaining its slot portfolio at London Gatwick, so it can return in line with customer demand.”

Sad times for all Virgin Staff, as well as the whole industry. Not forgetting those who lost lives
#955751 by FLYERZ
05 May 2020, 15:19
Q_Division wrote:Not good and sad for everyone involved. I do wonder what it means for my upcoming LGW flight though, presumable LHR and I have no idea what the plane will be (as it's "currently" a 747-400).



If a previously LGW flight I would imagine with the 747s gone IT would be the A330-200s but no doubt aircraft allocation will be reassessed based on demand in the coming months.

This is very sad indeed for LGW who as pointed out now face a seeming exodus. Let alone if you think airlines globally will be looking to consolidate flights I would imagine which may mean airlines such as Cathay Pacific or Emirates serving LHR/LGW may eventually leave too. Whilst it is without doubt sad for those who are losing jobs and those at LGW airport all we can hope is that these efforts demonstrate VS' efforts to try to minimise the impact on Covid-19 and therfore may send the right signals to the government to support aid down the line.

I do wonder whether, assuming VS survives, they would return to LGW if LHR proves appealing e.g. KLM/Air France connectivity across the entire route network as well as regional feed potential (Newcastle, Aberdeen, Leeds .etc) that exceeds the options they had at Gatwick for those flights.

Depending on how you want to look at it the LHR runway 3 position is probably bitter sweet....if it had got the go ahead and then Covid-19 knocking demand signficantly for a few years...
#955752 by Kraken
05 May 2020, 15:32
Sad news for both VS staff & LGW. I guess it was fairly predictable in the sense that maintaining two London bases with a huge slump in demand makes no financial sense. As to the 747's, they were on the way out in the next 18 months or so anyway - so like BA, Virgin will just bring their retirement forward.

The only saving grace is that the corporate release from Virgin (linked in a post above) mentions they will continue to fly from Mnchester. It's good to see that Virgin still see their being a market for flights from a location other than London.
#955753 by RLF
05 May 2020, 15:56
Very sad, as has been said, it will be Summer 2022 before we see the sort of numbers able to get to MCO and the West Indies. The idea does make sense to preserve VS, focus on MAN and LHR, loose the 744's and then 332's as more 350's come on line and consolidate whats left. Build up the 789 and 350 fleet, and be ready to expand again in 2-3 years . LHR might see 1 x 333 daily to MCO, 1 to BGI and 1 to various islands on different days, maybe as double drops as a start.

I feel for the LGW community who will suffer for sometime, will we see other airlines from around the world "test the water"?

This forum has been quite quiet recently, when I saw the news a couple of hours ago, I suspected we would see a few posts!
#955754 by flyingfox
05 May 2020, 16:26
Very sad news indeed, my thoughts with all impacted by this announcement, I hope the U.k government comes through with some kind of rescue package on the back of this turnaround plan.
#955756 by Vaughanie
05 May 2020, 18:18
I'm pleased that MAN is still on the VS agenda as us Northerners don't want to have to travel to any of the London airports if at all possible. After the demise of Thomas Cook, VS are the only airline offering direct flights to the popular destinations in the USA. GLA has been an option for flights to MCO too for us but MAN has been our main airport for VS flights to the USA for twentyish years. Terrible news for the employees though. Let's hope the government come up with the funds required to keep VS flying.
#955757 by rubytuesday
05 May 2020, 19:11
Perhaps edit the title of this thread as it is inaccurate and misleading. They are not leaving for good they are keeping slots open at gatwick and may/could return in the future once things pick up again.
#955760 by EthanD
05 May 2020, 19:48
Moley wrote:Read article other day suggesting LHR capacity over next 5 years meant didn’t need to reopen both T3 and T4. Might this be opportunity to push on with Terminal 2B, demolish T3 and only retain T4 until T2B finished. It seem to suggested that once T3 was gone there was provision for another set of remote gates accessed from either T5 or T2 by transit system. Might be journalist adding 2&2 to get 5 but when I find article will post link.


Slightly confused by this. T2B has been operating for many years. The only construction still going on is the transit tunnel to compliment the existing walkways between T2A & B and this has only taken so long to complete due to old T1 infrastructure being in the way.

No way T3 will be demolished anytime soon, T1 has been shut for nearly 5 years and only a very small amount has been demolished and that was only done to make way for the T2 transit tunnel mentioned above besides too much of the central terminal area revolves around T3, especially airside.

The foundations and transit tunnel for T5D have been in place for years so no need to demolish T3 to utilise it but it will be many years before T5 needs another satellite terminal, if ever.

Oh and a quick hello, I’ve been using these forums for years mainly to check on things leading up to my yearly trip with VA across the Atlantic but I’ve been watching with great interest over the last few weeks to see how people are reacting to all the unfortunate coronavirus changes in the industry.
#955761 by TimCrawley
06 May 2020, 00:08
LHR might see 1 x 333 daily to MCO, 1 to BGI and 1 to various islands on different days, maybe as double drops as a start.


As RLF says above, it could be that tentative restarts to carib routes may initially take a double drop route on previously direct routes as and when islands open up to travellers. With the cargo traffic on top for a pair of islands that could prove viable within a couple of months if islands can reopen for tourists.

For the islands it's obviously very difficult economically and planning for reopening may need to include many restrictions or procedures that could be impractical for their cruise ship markets but might be more practical for 1-2 week visitors....and it's quite possible that leisure customer appetite to 'take the plunge' will return quicker for air travel than for cruise travel too.

It's hard to envisage in the immediate future any carib island coping with 2 or 3 cruise ships of 2-4,000 passengers a ship calling in each day - probably only Cuba could cope, unless all their medical staff are now overseas that is. Could an island perhaps cope daily with a couple of 300-ish seater flights from UK and another couple from USA and/or Canada if the passengers were then on island for 1-2 weeks so justifying health checks on arrival (if the 'instant' test kits ever get working reliably) and provision of further local testing or screening if anyone falls ill?

Anyway, feel very sorry for all the VS and VH staff going to be affected by the job losses (I guess it's lucky Virgin Voyages haven't got too far underway), all the airport and off-airport support staff around LGW that will suffer job losses as their BA and VS business relocates and all the people on the islands relying on tourism too.

Meanwhile, I will be hoping Corsair don't go under (they are early retiring their last 747's too as part of rationalisation) as don't really fancy ORY-PTP back on Air France again...
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