Virgin Atlantic to cease Little Red operations
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Virgin Atlantic has announced it will cease its Little Red operations next year.
The airline’s daily services from Heathrow to Manchester, Aberdeen and Edinburgh will continue throughout summer 2015 and finish in September 2015.
Little Red was launched in March 2013 in competition to British Airways after it acquired bmi and took slots for domestic services.
Virgin Atlantic wanted to use the routes to get more Scotland and northern-based passengers to connect through Heathrow, but the airline said it had failed to get the connecting traffic.
The routes had instead been more popular as a point-to-point service, and had not made a ‘positive contribution’ to Virgin Atlantic as the airline looks to return to profitability.
Virgin Atlantic’s chief executive Craig Kreeger said: “Little Red came about through an enduring passion at Virgin Atlantic to make a difference for our customers. We really wanted it to be a success and everyone involved worked extremely hard and has given it their best efforts.
“It was always a huge challenge on behalf of the consumer, as the totally inadequate number of slots made available by the European Commission did not deliver close to BA’s network position, even when supplemented by our own slots to fly between Heathrow and Manchester. The time lag between the takeover of bmi and our entering the market also meant Little Red initially faced an uphill battle to win recognition and convert customers to its services.
“While this challenged environment meant Little Red ultimately did not deliver the results we had hoped, this certainly will not dampen our enthusiasm to try new things in the future. We have always fought for what we believe is best for our customers and we will continue to do so.”
President and founder Richard Branson added: “The odds were stacked against us and sadly we just couldn’t attract enough corporate business on these routes. We will stop flying the Little Red services between Manchester and London at the end of March 2015 and the Aberdeen and Edinburgh services at the end of September 2015.
“The team did their absolute best to make a go of it and I thank them all for their amazing efforts. In the meantime, keep flying on Little Red where you’ll continue to get amazing offers and great service.”
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