Virgin Atlantic

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Virgin Atlantic’s Hub Nears Full Capacity.

Virgin Atlantic started operations in 1984 with the concept of serving strong demand

destinations. The maiden flight from London Gatwick to Newark Liberty International Airport

took place on 22 June 1984 (Nandy, 2015). Since then the airline expanded but largely remained

as a single city hub airline. That hub is now in England’s capital, London’s Heathrow airport,

(IATA’s code LHR) (see route map in annex 1). As a long-haul airline Virgin Atlantic is highly

dependent on an airport that can attract both business and holiday destination travellers. LHR

traffic just like Virgin Atlantic has experienced a continued growth over the last decades (see

annex 2 graph.) The airport operates …show more content…

LHR is without a doubt an important strategic airport for any

international carrier. ‘Almost 75m passengers travelled through Heathrow airport in 2015, setting

a new record for the UK’s biggest and most congested airport’ (Powley, 2016, online). Many of

those passengers went to China with a 14% increase in 2015. The Middle East also saw

increased growth with a 6% increase while Latin America grew by 6 per cent (Powley, 2016).

Though these record numbers show a continued progression plans for increasing capacity have

been delayed attending to ‘‘further consideration on environmental impacts’’ (Powley, 2016,

online). Heathrow is operating at near-full capacity on its two runways (Powley, 2016). But the

rise in passenger numbers was made possible by airlines’ increased use of large capacity aircraft

such the Airbus A380 superjumbo (which Virgin Airlines is also contemplating adding to their

fleet). For example, by the end of 2015, there were more than 20 daily A380 flights into

Heathrow operated by eight carriers (Powley, 2016).

VIRGIN ATLANTC: LEVERAGES VALUE OVER LONDON BASE.

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Conclusion

While the use of big aircraft able to carry from over 500 passengers to excess of 800

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