Virgin Atlantic will begin rolling out free Starlink wifi in the third quarter of 2026, and complete the project by end of 2027.
They will retrofit their Boeing 787-9s that offer a 20-year old business class coffin to a seat similar to their Airbus A330neo, and increase the size of business class to 56 seats – but remove the bar to make room. This won’t happen until 2028-2030. A330 business class will also grow from 32 to 48 seats. Both will get more premium economy seats as well.
Airbus A330neo business class
London Heathrow and New York JFK Clubhouse lounges will be refurbished.
New York JFK Clubhouse
Then there’s new amenity kits, a new app, a ‘partnership with OpenAI’ for voice AI concierge and they won’t move to revenue-based status.
These are all good moves, but won’t happen for too long a time. The business class product on Virgin’s 787s is in the ‘definitely avoid’ category – and they aren’t going to begin doing anything about it for three years. Free wifi is great but it won’t be something you can count on for 2.5 years. And this is a small airline with fewer than 50 aircraft.
(HT: Head for Points)
Renovating the JFK T4 Clubhouse sounds good; though, ironically, don’t Upper Class (business) passengers already get access to DeltaOne, which is arguably far-superior to the Clubhouse?
Aged as it is, I’m pretty much a fan of VS for US-UK travel, for the lounges and the onboard food, beverage and service – all still superior. I know the seat layout is not the best, and oddly does not recline to a bed without the FA setting it up, but I sleep just fine on it. I can also see getting rid of the bar area – a cute idea, but no one uses it, particularly on the eastbound overnight TATLs, where it mainly holds the mid-flight snacks, and it’s not usable when there is turbulence anyway. And while LHR is a mess, T3 with VS and the UC Wing and security is much nicer and faster to T5, where BA is (unless you are BA First). That they still have a lot of saver awards is also a big plus.