Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Holidays have announced a three-year partnership to be headline sponsor of Manchester Pride Festival.
Manchester Pride is the UK’s largest Pride celebration and campaigns for equality; celebrates LGBTQ+ life and creates opportunities that engage LGBTQ+ people.
This year’s event takes place on the August bank holiday weekend, from Friday August 28 to Monday August 31. Last year saw performances from Arianda Grande, Years and Years, Kim Petras and Cheryl Cole.
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Money raised at Manchester Pride goes to the communities it supports and is used for campaigning and raising awareness for LGBTQ+ issues and the fight for equality.
Virgin Atlantic serves destinations such as Los Angeles, Las Vegas, New York, Barbados, Atlanta and Orlando from Manchester airport.
The airline hosted the inaugural Pride Flight, from London Heathrow to New York last year for the World Pride celebrations, and hosted a party at One World Trade Center.
Mark Fletcher, chief executive for Manchester Pride, said: “I am honoured for us to be partnering with an organisation that is so committed to placing diversity and equality at the heart of everything it does. When brands like Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Holidays are able to carry a message across the globe in support of LGBTQ+ people it is extremely powerful and I am confident that we will work together over the next three years to drive real change both here in Manchester and around the world.”
Juha Jarvinen, chief commercial officer at Virgin Atlantic, added: “Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Holidays have long been staunch supporters of LGBTQ+ rights and we strongly believe in making our business as inclusive and welcoming as possible. We are absolutely thrilled to be the headline sponsor of the Manchester Pride Festival, at our home in the north.
“I am really looking forward to working with Mark and his team to use the influential power of our brand, our international footprint and our incredible people to fight for change across the world.”
Virgin Atlantic is planning expansion at Manchester airport to make it a network hub and has increased capacity on routes such as Orlando and Barbados since the collapse of Thomas Cook, which had a large presence at Manchester.