Virgin is expanding yet further into the US with the news that it will use Travelocity Business as its travel agency for private charter services.
Known as Virgin Charter, the new company will offer the possibility of booking private flights 24h a day to Travelocity clients from a selection of operators.
Customers will manage the whole booking process using the internet, while Virgin says that all operators will be safety-audited by independent third parties.
Essentially, the process involves four stages: Virgin Charter clients submit trip requests online, compare deals from operators, select the appropriate offer and purchase.
”Virgin Charter has brought tremendous innovation to the marketplace,” said Virgin Atlantic chairman Sir Richard Branson.
Travelocity Business will be the exclusive launch business travel agency for Virgin Charter.
”Until now, booking on-demand charter has been a cumbersome process and flyers didn”t always know what they were getting,” said Virgin Charter CEO Scott Duffy. ”We are bringing the power of Virgin to the industry and are now offering an entirely new way to book charter over the internet.”
And Travelocity is understandably keen on the project, emphasising how it slots into Virgin”s approach. ”Virgin Charter is a natural fit in our suite of corporate VIP and Meetings services,” said Travelocity Business president Lesley Harris.
”The notion of bringing the power of automation and online simplicity to a historically manual process such as private aviation, mirrors our approach to everyday account management.”
