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Virgin Atlantic's new livery offers thanks

13 Feb 2018 by Tom Otley
Virgin A340

Virgin Atlantic has unveiled a new livery for one of its A340-600 aircraft.

The exterior of the A340-600 registration G-VNAP, better known as ‘Sleeping Beauty’, has a new seven-foot by 152-foot message exclaiming ‘a big Virgin Atlantic thank you’ along the length of the fuselage. It also has an  upright version of the ‘Flying Lady’ design first seen on ‘Birthday Girl’, the airline’s first Boeing 787 Dreamliner which entered the fleet in 2015.

The aircraft has been in storage in Tarbes, France since 2015, but has been brought out of retirement because of issues with the Rolls Royce engines on some of the carrier’s B787 aircraft.

Tarbes France

The same issue has also forced the carrier to lease former Air Berlin aircraft.

Virgin Atlantic takes ex-Air Berlin A330 aircraft

Ruby, the Virgin Atlantic Blog, supplies the following details:

“The story about how she got rejuvenated, resprayed and reunited with our fleet came about after a global industry-wide supply issue meant extended ground time for some of our aircraft.

We had to move swiftly if we were to protect our flying programme and not disappoint our customers.

Some quick thinking and bold decision making by our fleet planning and commercial teams meant that we quickly acquired four Airbus A330-200 aircraft and brought Sleeping Beauty back into the fleet now flying under her new name, Sleeping Beauty Rejuvenated.”

‘Sleeping Beauty’ joins an list of Virgin Atlantic aircraft that have featured a unique livery, including ‘Austin Powered’, ‘Spice One’, ‘Lady Penelope’, ‘Birthday Girl’, ‘Harry Potter’, ‘Queen of the Cobbles’, ‘Golden Girl’ and ‘Where’s Wally’.

Craig Kreeger, CEO of Virgin Atlantic said “The people of Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Holidays have made our business and our brand what it is today. They’re both our magic ingredient and our greatest strength.

Virgin says that the newly designed Airbus A340-600 aircraft will be used during peak travel periods. It has a total of 308 seats –  225 Economy, 38 Premium Economy and 45 Upper Class.

To see more Virgin liveries, check out the Flickr slideshow below.

virgin.com

Virgin Atlantic liveries
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