Virgin Atlantic will resume ALL flights by November, boss predicts, while the wealthy top-up their private jet travel cards in hope that foreign holidays can start again next month

  • Virgin Atlantic expects all its planes to be back in air by October or November
  • CEO Shai Weiss cautioned 'we are by no means out of' pandemic and curbs
  • Virgin Atlantic was founded by Virgin Group boss Sir Richard Branson in 1984 
  • The airline secured £1.2bn rescue package and cut nearly half its workforce
  • Air Partner revealed the rich are preparing for a summer of global travel 

Virgin Atlantic is expecting to resume all of its flights by November, its chief executive announced today after the embattled airline secured a £1.2billion rescue deal and cut nearly half of its workforce. 

Speaking at an online conference, Shai Weiss cautioned 'we are by no means out of this situation' and said the company 'will only be satisfied' when 'all our planes are in the sky', which he predicted to be this winter. 

Virgin Atlantic is planning for an extra 10 planes to reenter service by November, meaning that all 37 aircraft within the embattled airline's fleet should be in the skies by the end of the year, it is understood. 

It comes as wealthy fliers prepare for a summer of international travel by topping up their private jet travel cards, according to one of the industry's big players. 

Air Partner said new UK customers added £750,000 worth of deposits to their so-called JetCards with the company in February and March in the hope that foreign holidays can begin again from next month.   

A Virgin Atlantic spokesperson told MailOnline: 'We welcome the adoption of a risk-based traffic light framework and that progress is being made towards the resumption of international travel at scale from May 17. 

Shai Weiss cautioned 'we are by no means out of this situation' and said Virgin Atlantic 'will only be satisfied' when 'all our planes are in the sky', which he expects to be by November
Virgin Atlantic was founded by multi-billionaire Sir Richard Branson in 1984

Shai Weiss cautioned 'we are by no means out of this situation' and said Virgin Atlantic 'will only be satisfied' when 'all our planes are in the sky', which he expects to be by November. Virgin Atlantic was founded by multi-billionaire Sir Richard Branson in 1984

Virgin Atlantic ncut nearly half its workforce despite completing a £1.2billion rescue

Virgin Atlantic ncut nearly half its workforce despite completing a £1.2billion rescue

 

Sir Richard Branson and Virgin airlines 

Virgin Group boss Sir Richard Branson

Virgin Group boss Sir Richard Branson

Virgin Atlantic was founded in 1984 by Sir Richard Branson, who continues to have a 51 per cent stake alongside US airline Delta with 49 per cent.

The billionaire Virgin Group boss launched a range of businesses from Virgin Atlantic and his space tourism venture Virgin Galactic, to Virgin Money, Virgin Radio, Virgin Trains, Virgin Cola and Virgin Cosmetic. By 2014, his empire had interests in 200 companies across 30 countries.

Sir Richard came under fire last April after he asked for a taxpayer bailout to save sister airline Virgin Australia from collapse during the pandemic.  

However, in an open letter to staff, he insisted he was not asking for a handout, but a commercial loan, believed to be £500million, after the airline went into administration. 

Virgin Atlantic then filed for bankruptcy in the US in August, after laying off 3,550 staff and closing its base at London's Gatwick airport.

The airline secured a £1.2billion rescue package in September, designed to see it through at least the next 18 months. The package includes a pledge of £200million from Virgin Group, the airline's biggest shareholder, and creditors agreeing to reduce and defer its debts.

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'Taking into account the UK's successful vaccination programme and declining hospital admissions, travel to and from 'Green' countries should be unrestricted without testing or quarantine needs sufficient time to plan for re-start, including preparing our crews and readying our fleet, so it is it's essential we're provided with a timeline and 'green' list destinations as soon as possible, in order to ramp up operations in line with demand.'

Speaking to Sky News, Mr Weiss predicted Virgin Atlantic is 'getting closer to the resumption of travel at scale'. 

'Virgin Atlantic was one of the deepest impacted initially and we took dramatic measures, with tremendous sacrifices for the livelihoods of so many of our excellent people who had done nothing wrong but have lost their jobs,' he said.

'But because we completed the privately-funded recapitalisation on September 4, 2020 and, after that, two further rounds of equity, I believe we're getting closer to the resumption of travel at scale.

'Actually everything we've done throughout this pandemic has been about saving Virgin Atlantic and saving as many jobs as possible.' When asked if that meant there would be no more job losses, he replied: 'I think so.' 

Virgin Atlantic reopened its stores in England on April 12 under the Government's roadmap out of lockdown. 'I think we may see a pick-up in bookings in anticipation of the summer months that are coming,' he said. 

Mr Weiss joined other airline bosses in criticising the 'traffic light' system to restart global travel. 'For travel between green countries it should be absent quarantine and absent testing,' he told BBC Radio earlier this month. 

'There are better ways of doing what the government has set out to do.' He added that the more expensive PCR tests required for travel would put off some customers.

It comes as Air Partner said it saw a 15 per cent rise in sales and renewals of JetCards year-on-year, the company said today. However, this figure is when compared to February and March 2020, when Covid-19 had already started to weigh on international travel.

In the US, sales and renewals were up 54 per cent, and deposits from new customers rose more than five-fold, to £300,000.

'The US private jet market is one vast, domestic market so it has not been subject to the types of restrictions and national lockdowns that we have seen in the UK and Europe,' Air Partner chief executive Mark Briffa said.

'As a result, the skies have remained open and we have seen sustained private leisure flying from high-net-worth individuals in the region.'

He said it was 'no surprise' that the demand continued in February and March with significant deposits for travel in the future.

'In a very encouraging sign, this has also been the case in the UK as confidence returns to this market ahead of the anticipated easing of restrictions.'

JetCard customers charge their cards with flying hours and are able to book a private jet with just one day's notice using the hours on their card.

'The pandemic has really shone a light on the benefits of our JetCard product: for those who are able to reserve private flying hours in advance, it offers unparalleled flexibility and access to a private jet at very short notice,' Mr Briffa said.

'This means it is proving very popular among customers who want to know they can travel easily and safely when lockdown restrictions lift.'

The Government is set to make an announcement soon on whether it will allow international holidays to start again next month.  

However, even yesterday Boris Johnson insisted it was 'premature' to speculate on which countries could be on the UK's foreign travel 'green list'.  

Virgin Atlantic started using the vaccine passports app on flights to Barbados from April 16

Virgin Atlantic started using the vaccine passports app on flights to Barbados from April 16

Malta (pictured) is one country that sources say could be included on the travel green list

Malta (pictured) is one country that sources say could be included on the travel green list

What are jet cards and how do they work? 

JetCards by Air Partner

JetCards by Air Partner

Travellers can prepay for flights by setting up an exclusive debit card-style private jet travel programme.

Customers can prepay to use different aircraft at a fixed hourly rate, rather than at market prices. This means frequent travellers don't have to shop around for each new trip. 

Jet cards usually start at between 10 and 25 hours, with deposits ranging from around £50,000 to £150,000. 

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The Prime Minister apologised to holidaymakers and urged them to be patient as he said the Government will provide an update 'as soon as we possibly can'.

Non-essential international travel is due to resume from May 17 at the earliest under the Government's lockdown exit roadmap.

The Government earlier this month unveiled a new traffic light system which will see countries categorised as red, amber or green based on criteria like vaccination levels and coronavirus case numbers.

Travel to green countries will be quarantine-free although passengers will still have to take expensive PCR coronavirus tests.

Travel from red countries will require a stay in hotel quarantine while returning from amber countries will require 10 days of self-isolation at home.

The Government's plans for resuming non-essential international travel were slammed by travel chiefs who said there was a lack of detail and too much uncertainty.  There has also been a furious backlash over the testing requirement for travel from green countries. 

It is expected the vast majority of returning holidaymakers will be required to take PCR tests - which cost around £120 - a move that risks pricing families out of a summer break. It would cost the average family of four an extra £600 on top of flights and accommodation. 

Airline bosses including easyJet's Johan Lundgren have warned the current testing requirements could make travel prohibitively expensive, with Covid tests costing more than the flight itself in some cases. 

They have argued that families would be reluctant to book if they were forced to find an extra £600 to pay for the tests on top of the cost of the holiday.   

Ministers have vowed to drive down the cost but holiday firms fear the testing rules will price many families out of a trip abroad this summer.     

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said earlier this month that it is now possible for Britons to start thinking about booking a foreign holiday. 

He said:  'My advice today would be moving on from where we were before, I am not telling people that they shouldn't book summer holidays and that is the first time that I have been able to say that for many months.

'But I think everybody doing it understands there are risks with coronavirus and of course actually I think people would want to be clear about which countries are going to be in the different traffic light system.

'People will predominantly of course be looking to book in a green country. So there is only two or three weeks to wait before we publish that list itself.

'But yes, tentative progress, for the first time people can start to think about visiting loved ones abroad or perhaps a summer holiday but we are doing it very, very cautiously because we don't want to see any return of coronavirus in this country.' 

Travel chiefs slam the Government's 'too cautious' plan to resume flights and warn the border is already 'unable to cope' with Covid checks as easyJet CEO believes 'most European countries' WILL be on green list 

Travel bosses slammed the Government's approach to resuming international flights as they claimed it is 'too cautious' and warned many holiday firms are 'teetering on the brink'. 

Senior industry figures told MPs on the Transport Select Committee that the proposed traffic light system is 'too complex' while the overall strategy set out by ministers is 'very vague in many areas'.

They also warned border control at airports is already 'unable to cope' with Covid checks despite passenger numbers being massively reduced due to the lockdown ban on non-essential international travel. 

They warned there will need to be a 'dramatic improvement in border performance if we are to increase passenger numbers' when flights do resume. 

Despite the criticism of the Government's approach, airline bosses have delivered a boost to millions of Brits hoping for a summer break abroad as they said most of Europe and the US could be on the 'green list'.  

Johan Lundgren, easyJet's chief executive, said he expects 'most European countries' to be included in the Government's quarantine-free category when international travel returns from May 17.

Asked if he expects destinations such as France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, Croatia, Cyprus and Turkey to be on the Government 'green list', Mr Lundgren replied: 'Yes, by the time we open up for travel on May 17 and if the Government continues to have the plan in place on the two-test system.'

Meanwhile, British Airways boss Sean Doyle said the continued success of the vaccine rollout in the UK and the US could allow for a transatlantic travel corridor to be put in place.

Last month, experts said London and Washington were already discussing piloting a bilateral safe travel scheme between the two countries. 

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