Virgin Atlantic will use Aer Lingus aircraft and crew for its new domestic services starting in spring 2013.
Sir Richard Branson’s carrier will run 24 flights a day from Manchester, Edinburgh and Aberdeen to Heathrow from March 2013 using four Airbus A320-200 aircraft leased from Aer Lingus, which will also supply the crews.
The airline will be running 24 domestic flights a day to Heathrow from March 31, 2013 – with six daily return services to Edinburgh, three to Aberdeen and three to Manchester.
Virgin will be using 9 of the 12 Bmi Heathrow slots, which are being given up by Bmi’s new owner IAG, for its Edinburgh and Aberdeen services. It had also wanted to run flights to Moscow but lost out to Easyjet on rights to fly to the Russian capital from London.
Virgin Atlantic chief executive Steve Ridgway said: “It’s been a long time coming but the dawn of our short-haul service is now just a few months away.
“We’ve worked hard to produce the sort of operation that consumers have come to expect from us – with customer service and a unique approach to flying forming the key pillars for our new domestic routes.
“Most importantly, passengers will reap the benefits of increased choice and lower fares due to the reinjection of vital competition we can provide on these routes.”
Virgin’s deal with Aer Lingus is for an initial three years and the leased aircraft will use Virgin’s livery.
All flights will operate from Heathrow’s Terminal 1 meaning that passengers going on to Virgin’s long-haul flights will have to transfer to Terminal 3.
The aircraft will be in a single class layout with snacks and drinks included in the price, which will start at £99 per person return.
virginatlantic.com