Goodbye to the bubble - Virgin

[WDocW]

Originally Posted by TIMCSS

The reduction compared to their business routes will only be on 5 leisure planes from Gatwick and Manchester.

747:
Upper Class
14 flatbed seats

Premium Economy
Pitch Width
38 21
66 recliner seats

Economy
Pitch Width
31 17.5
375 standard seats

A350's Business routes:
Upper Class
44 open suites

Premium
Pitch Width
38 18.5
56 recliner seats

Economy
31-34 17.4
235 standard seats

The loss on these plans is around 140 seats. 44 open suites on a leisure route is way too much they wont pay for themselves and loose virgin money in the long run, considering they have lost over 100 economy seats. I predict the net loss of seats to be around 50 if they reduce the suites down to 10-14.

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You're right - the loss of seats isn't going to be as much as some people think.

For the sake of comparison look at the difference between the 747 in LHR config vs LGW/MAN:
The last version of the LHR config was 44 Upper/62 Premium/261 Economy (so only 6 more premium seats and 26 more Economy than the A350!).
The LGW/MAN 747s are 14/66/375. So essentially they sacrificed 30 of the upper class seats for 4 Premium and 114 Economy.

The loss of capacity is going to depend on what they do with the premium cabins : upper will definitely be a smaller cabin, but as Premium is such a money spinner on the leisure routes I think they will keep it fairly similar (though they will likely slightly increase frequency to compensate).

I could see the A350 leisure config being something like 16 Upper, 64 Premium and 335 Economy which would only mean a loss of 40 or so seats compared to the 747. Obviously I am likely to be a little "out" as the dimensions of the A350 economy seats in particular are a bit smaller than those on the 747 but the ratio should be roughly right!

[YorkshireT]

Do you think it will be the new plane out of MAN at Xmas?

[TIMCSS]

Originally Posted by YorkshireT

Do you think it will be the new plane out of MAN at Xmas?

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It's hard to say as they could move the aircraft around between Gatwick and Manchester in the first few months while they undergo regular checks etc at Gatwick, plus there might be 1 at Gatwick and 1 at manchester between deliveries. The only way you're going to be able to tell is on your seat plan for the time the being. I would be surprised however if manchester are completed before Gatwick.

[poppett67]

Same here, Oct 2021 and wanted bubble again

[thatdavieguy]

When Virgin announced the retirement of 747's, the plan was supposed to be that they were going to start by removing 1 x 747 from service by "late summer 2019" and aim to take another 3 out of service by the end of 2019 and the rest would fall out of service during 2020 with the final one by 2021, they however didn't specify if that would mean that the 747 wouldn't fly for Virgin during 2021.

They have 8 A350-1000's on direct order from Airbus, the balance on lease from GECAS, so will just be a case of how long it takes for GECAS to receive them from Airbus as this could push things back

[emmafleur]

We’re flying August 20th LGW - MCO and have booked bubble seats for the flight home on 4/9. I’m assuming they’ll still be using the 747 as we’ve been able to book the bubble? I’ve never flown in there before so very excited to give it a try

[Guest]

Originally Posted by itsmeGAV

the wing tips are out of this world

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This really made me smile. It's clear you are a real aficionado.

[writersblock]

I’m not liking the reduced seat width for premium. Will the prices be reduced too...?

[jillyb]

So hoping we get the bubble one last time for our December flight. from Gatwick

[bighal]

Also you could be on an A330 as that will be operating on the leisure routes from LGW/MAN/GLA and BFS when the 747s finally all go.