Virgin Atlantic is the latest airline to unbundle its economy fares, which is will separate into three categories.
From spring this year, its customers can choose to fly ‘economy delight’, ‘economy classic’ and ‘economy light’.
‘Delight’ will have more legroom and priority check-in and boarding, while ‘light’ will have the same legroom as ‘classic’ but without checked luggage or seat selection.
All fare types will include in-flight food and entertainment, hand luggage, blankets, pillows, headphones and USB chargers.
The move comes less than a week after British Airways and other airline partners revealed their unbundled Basic fares on transatlantic routes.
The new fare options are part of a wider £300 million investment from Virgin Atlantic to deliver innovations on the ground and in the air.
Craig Kreeger, chief executive of Virgin Atlantic, said: “We’re unveiling the biggest change to our economy cabin in over a decade – launching three new ways to fly, and a host of innovations on the ground and in the air as part of a wider £300 million investment in our customers. We know that one size doesn’t fit all, and from spring our customers can afford to be choosy and still travel in the UK’s leading economy cabin.
“We always want flying with Virgin Atlantic to be more special than other airlines, and we’ll never compromise on excellent service, industry leading food and drink and cutting edge inflight entertainment – regardless of which economy ticket our customers are travelling on, they’ll be able to enjoy all this onboard.”
Sir Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Atlantic, added: “When I started Virgin Atlantic I wanted to challenge the status quo and make flying amazing – regardless of which cabin you’re in – and that’s still true today. We’re unveiling a multimillion pound investment to make Virgin Atlantic’s economy cabin the best of any UK airline and setting the bar for others to follow.”
The wider investment includes 12 new Airbus A350-1000 aircraft to join its fleet from spring 2019, more economy delight seats, automated bag drops at London airports, more USB chargers in seats and a ‘Virgin scent’ called ‘Air’ by candle maker Rachel Vosper.
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