Why has IAD become such a thin route for VS?

Growing up just outside DC, one of my earliest memories of flying was going to Europe on Swiss Air and being parked next to a Virgin Atlantic plane on the IAD tarmac. One of the people in our group happened to know about this new airline and was telling us about the on-board massages, the bar, all the luxuries on board, etc. From that time, I always wanted to fly on Virgin Atlantic.

I distinctly remember that plane being a 747. A quick search on Airliners.net shows that VS flew the 747 to IAD up to 2003. What was the reason for Virgin to downgrade this not only from a 747 route, but all the way down to an A343 route?

A few years ago I was flying VS and it was usually a mixed bag whether you got an A343 or an A346, but today it seems like it's only the A343 and the loads are never really that heavy.

What happened to IAD and Virgin? BA supports 3 flights daily on this route with 2 777's and 1 767; United does the exact same. VS can only muster up one A343? Not to mention the ill-fated VS55/56 flights, which the timing I much preferred over the VS21/22 flights.

Thoughts? |:)

Cheers,
-Matt

I'm not sure I agree with all you say - I fly IAD regularly and it is frequently full, but, it's a route that VS has a lot of competition on: pax are dominated by government and corporate travel, and VS at one time had a MoD contract which is why the VS55/56 came about, but I believe that has gone (HG knows more than I here ...).

[Decker]

Oh shame - used to love sitting at the bar chatting to the Nimrod guys

VS at one time had a MoD contract which is why the VS55/56 came about, but I believe that has gone (HG knows more than I here ...).

Nope - the contract is still in place and heavily used so Decker you can carry on chatting up err I mean to those RAF types

It is strange - back when it was on the classic it was usually full, so not sure why demand has fallen - probably due to increased competition and more seats being available.

Hi, this is my first post, so I'll try to avoid ranting too much. I feel that it's a combination of what has been suggested above. VS only offer 1 flight a day, and it's usually an A343 ... which means that there is probably no v-port xx( . VS are usually more expensive than BA/UA. It's becoming harder for me to justify spending more for IMHO a more limited option, and I'm seriously considering BA for the next trip.

I've been flying frequently with VS for 14 years to IAD, as much as I love VS, I'm not surprised that this route is getting thinner.

... which means that there is probably no v-port xx( . VS are usually more expensive than BA/UA. It's becoming harder for me to justify spending more for IMHO a more limited option

So, VS either isn't promoting well enough, or is being uncompetitive?

I'm sure BA used to send 744's there too in the past, doesn't seem like it's just VS it's happening to!

Oh shame - used to love sitting at the bar chatting to the Nimrod guys

They likely working behind said bar now... B)

A BA 747 taxid out behind the VS plane I was on from IAD back in May last year (and was probably the BA 747 that landed behind us at LHR the next morning.) That was within the strike / ash cloud period (or as it turned out non strike period) so I don't know whether it was a substituted aircraft...

But saying that I've also flown to and from LAX on a VS 747 (2005) which is now served by 346 's...

[Scrooge]

So pretty much the same answers as on A'Net then

It's defintly a sign of the times - lots of flights that used to be on 744/747-200 are now on 340s - LAX (007) SFO (Winter season) IAD BOS (Occassionally on 744) JFK (009) EWR (001 and 017 -Ex-LGW) MIA (Winter season)
Guess it's just a changing trend in where pax want to fly and increased competition on certain routes. But then of course we now have JNB on a 744 which always used to be a 343.

So pretty much the same answers as on A'Net then

I thought it was a good topic!