Virgin Atlantic has unveiled a special Star Wars livery on one of its B747 aircraft, in celebration of the new Galaxy’s Edge experience at Walt Disney Work Resort in Florida.
The jumbo features an image of the iconic Millennium Falcon, and will go into service on the carrier’s Gatwick-Orlando route from today. The aircraft has also been renamed the ‘The Falcon’.
Virgin said that the decal used to cover the aircraft is 44 metres long, and took three weeks to print, using 14,000 millilitres of ink.
Virgin Holidays has also launched a new ‘Ultimate Virgin Holidays Star Wars Experience’ (available from February 15-22, 2020), which includes “fan flights”, transfers, accommodation, park tickets and early park access, an immersive dining experience, and an exclusive Star Wars themed night party.
To celebrate the launch of the repainted aircraft, Virgin is running a competition, offering people the chance to win two tickets on board the Ultimate Experience.
Instagram users need to take a photo of the Star Wars liveried aircraft, tag it with @virginholidays and @virginatlantic, and include the hashtag #TheFalcon in the photo caption. All entries received by Wednesday October 9 will be entered into a prize draw.
Commenting on the livery Dave Napper, Senior Engineer, Virgin Atlantic said:
“It was a very exciting brief to be able to redesign our aircraft livery to represent something as iconic as the Millennium Falcon and it’s not something that you get to do every day.
“We have many Star Wars fans within the company who jumped at the chance to get involved in some way, and we cannot wait to see ‘The Falcon’ take flight.”
