Unscheduled flight??!

Hiya boys and girls

Just a quick one this time. I have noticed for flightradar24 that G-VEIL is current airbourne under the callsign VIR9951.

Anyone know where it is off to and what this flight is for?

Cheers!

Maybe off for maintenance or just doing a training flight?

Is it not the PM with his trade delegation to India?

Jon

It does look like it might be headed towards India.
It was routed from LHR on what looks like a Detling departure and has flown over Frankfurt and is currently heading in a south-easterly direction.
Why on earth does the PM need an entire A346?! Surely he can't have filled it up with his guys, surely an A333 or even a A343 would have been more logical?

I wonder this about times like when the St Louis American Football team came over using a 346 too? Is this just not a waste of an aircraft?

There are usually a load of press down the back on these flights (which they are charged for).

Costs of the trip will appear in a few months on the Downing Street Website.

VS will obviously hope it will generate some publicity for them - pics of the plane landing on the TV news etc

Ahhhh I see, well the fact there might well be loads of press on there explains why such a large aircraft. The loadings must be reaosnably light in comparison because it went straight up to 37000ft suggesting there will probably be one at the most step climbs during the flight.

I suppose the pics of it landing on TV and visual publicity like that explains why the picked this acft too because it is as far as I know the only 346 in the new billboard livery!

... And so it all falls into place lol

Ahhhh I see, well the fact there might well be loads of press on there explains why such a large aircraft. The loadings must be reaosnably light in comparison because it went straight up to 37000ft suggesting there will probably be one at the most step climbs during the flight.

I suppose the pics of it landing on TV and visual publicity like that explains why the picked this acft too because it is as far as I know the only 346 in the new billboard livery!

... And so it all falls into place lol

In addition to the press and the staff travelling with the PM, the trade delegation totals around 100 business men and women too...hopefully a successful trip for British business....

Jon

Oh wow, I wasn't aware of the business folk on board.
So how many pax will there be roughly on board then, with the PM, his people, the press and the business guys?

Why are the business men and woman actually on there? What purpose will they surve on the trip?

A delegation like this one to India is a great opportunity to promote brand Britain.

Jon

A delegation like this one to India is a great opportunity to promote brand Britain.

Jon

Or to look for outsourcing opportunities to export jobs... :w

I think that Virgin still makes money on charter flights like this one, which are especially handy in the winter season when there is more flexibility in the fleet. As for marketing, of course that is a major bonus, I noticed that this aircraft has the new livery so obviously the management has not missed a trick.

I noticed that flight earlier on the flightradar24 app. There's a flight which has recently taken off from LHR and is flying at 37 towards the Netherlands flight number VS813P being flown by G-VBUG. Any ideas?

Just had a more detailed look, looks like its heading to MNL am I right in thinking VS do maintenance in MNL?

Yep, but I thought it had moved to Malta?

Oh wow, I wasn't aware of the business folk on board.
So how many pax will there be roughly on board then, with the PM, his people, the press and the business guys?

Why are the business men and woman actually on there? What purpose will they surve on the trip?

Duh....looking for trade

Mr Cameron is accompanied on his three-day trip by a delegation of more than 100 representatives of major corporations, small businesses and academic institutions, as well as football's Premier League, the London Underground and nine parliamentarians