New AOC

Just heard today that Virgin are going to be getting a new AOC under the name Virgin Atlantic International Limited.

They will operate out of LGW and will operate several Caribbean flights on Virgin Atlantics behalf using 2 A330-300 aircraft that belong to VS.

Apparently it will help gain access to further finance.

All happening very quickly, VAIL only formed 6 days ago, with directors only officially assigned today, previously name was also aeronatuatical -- Peregrine Secretarial Services
Be interesting to see what this brings to the table

So basically this is just a behind-the-scenes move and it'll be existing scheduled VS flights that are shifted to be under the new company but still run using the existing Virgin aircraft and branding?

For those not acronym-savvy, what does AOC stand for?

Air Operators Certificate.

Virgin Atlantic International Limited was incorporated on 13/04/2015
Link

A company could do all sorts with different operating arms, pay different wages/benefits etc, operate a different revenue model... If it took over the whole LGW operation it could cut a lot of costs on the highly leisure routes to remain competitive.

Only two aircraft though? if they're both running the Caribbean routes it'll be interesting to see how they manage the schedule to ensure they're flying enough hours.

For the LCY-JFK route British Airways set up a different company, British Airways Limited who wet leased their planes from British Airways. I have no idea why. This company has only just closed and BA001 has gone back to being operated by British Airways.

I wonder if Virgin are looking at the same model for some of the routes. Virgin always fancied operating a business class only service but it was abandoned in 2008 when the oil price rose above $100.

For the LCY-JFK route Britih Airways set up a different company, British Airways Limited who wet leased their planes from British Airways. I have no idea why. This company has only just closed and BA001 has gone back to being operated by British Airways.

It was done initially for tax and financing reasons.

It was still under the BA umbrella though.

Virgin Atlantic International Limited was incorporated on 13/04/2015
Link

Not exactly, FDN1 limited, which appears to be a shelf company was incorporated on that date, Form NM04 was submitted to Companies House on 2nd June proposing name change from FDN1 to VAIL, Peregrine Secretarial Services resigned yesterday as company secretary and a new company secretary was appointed [Dr Sousa] a whole host of new directors have been appointed as of today, including SRB, Kreeger etc,

BA did it with AML years ago operating a DC10 out of LGW to the Caribbean. Staff in BA uniform but different contracts. There are two A330s already operating the UVF ANU BGI GND TAB routes so nothing will change in that respect

Somewhat related... Why is BA CityFlyer segregated from BA?

Somewhat related... Why is BA CityFlyer segregated from BA?

It is a wholly owned subsidiary of BA.

Just as OpenSkies (operates Paris to New York) is.


Often done for legal and / or financial reasons.

And as it is a separate company it can (and does) have different T&Cs for it's employees e.g. pension arrangements, leave, pay etc

City flyer and GB airways were seperate franchises who operated in BA colours with crew in BA uniforms. Then BA took over city flyer and easyJet took over GB

It is a wholly owned subsidiary of BA.

Just as OpenSkies (operates Paris to New York) is.


Often done for legal and / or financial reasons.

And as it is a separate company it can (and does) have different T&Cs for it's employees e.g. pension arrangements, leave, pay etc

Thank you!

Again, purely out of interest... My parent company has about 60 Ltd companies operating under it. For example, each department has its own Ltd company even though our terms of employment are with the parent and we are paid from the parent company. Would this be the same with airlines with routes, hubs, lounges etc?

Each department has its own company? Blimey either you work for a huge company or someone's ultra-cautious!

Most common reason for doing things like that is for protection against things going wrong, insolvency, litigation, etc.

Somewhat related... Why is BA CityFlyer segregated from BA?

CityFlyer was once a stand alone airline. I remember when they started. They then became a BA franchise and I recall merged with another BA franchise, Brymon Airways. Also, at one point a stand alone airline.

VS Gatwick creates a nice little stand alone airline should DL want to play with other parts of VS. </Mischief>

There's been talk for a while about establishing a separate crew base at LGW (currently all London-based crew have a twin base and can be rostered to work both LHR & LGW flights).

Maybe this is connected some way - but probably just some dull accounting/legal/tax reason.

Whatever the reason it's clear to me that Craig Kreeger know's what he's doing.
Most probably it's to do with cutting costs or aircraft leasing after all Virgin only owns about 4 aircraft out right. 2 787's and 2 747's so they are trying to find a way to sub lease the A330's, because I'm sure Mr Kreeger has said they are taking all 4 options for the 787 that are not yet firm orders.

Plus we are all still awaiting the outcome of the A380's if they do or do not convert them to A350-1000, After all fuel and aircraft acquisition are some of the biggest cost's incurred for airlines.