Big twin for Virgin Atlantic

Virgin Atlantic has finally put a twin-engined aircraft into service after a decade decrying them.  What clearly persuaded Sir Richard Branson and his able Lieutenant Steve Ridgeway to take this step was a requirement for new aircraft, the safety service records of twins, and a 15% fuel saving over the carrier's A340s.  The inaugural Airbus A330 flight was between Manchester and Orlando.

The 314 seater is the first of 10 A330s that Virgin will receive over the next two years.  They will be deployed on routes from the UK to the US East Coast, East and West Africa, the Middle East and India.  They are kitted out with 59 passengers in Premium Economy and 255 in Economy.

All will benefit from a revolutionary new ‘touch screen’ in-flight entertainments system by Panasonic.  They can browse through menus just once and "bookmark" all the movies, TV shows, CDs and games they are interested in and put them in one place – the "Saved" area.  And retrieve them in their own time.

Later this year Virgin Atlantic travellers flying on the A330 will be able to send and receive emails and texts on their Blackberries, handheld PDAs and other mobile devices. www.virgin-atlantic.com

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