Virgin Atlantic was developed as an offshoot of Richard Branson's Virgin Group, who was better known at the time as the flamboyant leader of Virgin records. Virgin Atlantic started cheap flights between London and New York in June 1984.

AviaMagazine.com looks at one of the first low budget airlines, which now also includes Virgin Express en Australia's Virgin Blue.

Virgin Atlantic

Early 1984, Richard Branson and Randolph Fields started British Atlantic Airways as an all business configuration between London and New York. Unfortunately, the CAA refused to give the required licence and Branson tried it again through the Virgin Group.

Branson used the collapsed Laker Airways as an example to operate cheap flights. Virgin Atlantic was granted a licence for flights between London and New York (Newark). Operations started on the 22nd of June 1984, using a single Boeing 747. Later that year, operations started between London and Maastricht, Holland using BAC One-Elevens and later, Viscounts. In November 1985 a new route was added between London and Miami. In 1986, another 747 was added, with four extra to come in the following three years. With the new planes several routes were introduced, including New York JFK, Los Angeles, Boston, Tokyo and Moscow.

To save Virgin Atlantic, Branson sold Virgin Records to EMI for $880 million. Virgin Atlantic was tangled into a fears competition with British Airways. The money gained from Virgin Records, was invested in Virgin Atlantic, saving the airline.

Virgin Atlantic saw the introduction of a new airframe in 1993, when the Airbus A340 started on routes to Hong Kong and Australia. An A320 was also used on route to Athens. This aircraft was replaced by an A321 (G-VATH). In 1996 operations started on the European routes with the newly found Virgin Express. That year Virgin also started services on Johannesburg.

In 1999 Virgin Sun was launched to provide holiday charter flights from Gatwick and Manchester. Plans were also made for an Australian low cost airline, later known as Virgin Blue. Virgin gained a new partner in Singapore Airlines, when SIA took a 49% stake in the Virgin Group. 1999 also saw the introduction of the 'Silver Dream' colour scheme.

In August 2002 Virgin Atlantic made its first commercial flight to New York using the new A340-600. In 2003 new routes were introduced between Gatwick and Port Harcourt, Nigeria and between Gatwick and Tobago and Grenada.

Virgin Express

The company was founded in 1992 by the City Hotels Group as EuroBelgian Airlines (EBA). Operations began on the 1st of April 1992 with Boeing 737-300s using routes of the collapsed Air Europa.

After the acquisition of EBA by the Virgin Group on the 23rd of April 1996, the airline was renamed Virgin Express. A partnership was established with Sabena and Virgin Express took over services to London with several flights a day. In 1998 a sister company was created in Dublin. Virgin Express now operates popular European routes from Brussels to Spain, France, Sweden, Italy, Greece and the United Kingdom. There are also daily routes from Amsterdam to Italy.