Celebrating five years of our partnership with Delta

It’s been five years since we formed the leading transatlantic partnership with Delta and we’re celebrating by offering you a series of sky-high surprises throughout February.

In that time our transatlantic partnership has gone far. We’ve introduced WiFi on all our flights and fully flat bed seats in our Virgin Atlantic Upper Class and Delta One cabins. We’ve set up mutually rewarding loyalty programmes and we’re co-located at key international airports. Not to mention offering award-winning lounges and Clubhouses on both sides of the Atlantic. Here’s to many more amazing years together.

If you’re travelling on select flights between London Heathrow, Atlanta and New York-JFK, you’ll receive signature treats from each airline including cocktails, Love Heart sweets, warm cookies and Virgin Atlantic Happy Socks. We’ll also be rolling out a joint advertising campaign celebrating five years of bringing people together, highlighting the unrivalled customer experience offered across Virgin Atlantic and Delta.

Since joining forces with Delta we’ve introduced a number of benefits for customers travelling between the UK and the US, including:

• Better flight options: We now operate up to 74 daily nonstop flights between the U.K. and U.S. – nearly 20 percent more than in 2014
• Investing in new technology: Customers now benefit from enhancements including automated bag drop at Heathrow and Gatwick, real time bag tracking via the Delta app, and biometric security at Atlanta airport
• Easier connections: The airlines have co-located at eight airports, helping to achieve the leading on time performance at London Heathrow, and making it easier for customers to connect between flights to over 200 destinations in the United States
• Introducing three new ways to fly economy: Both airlines now offer three tiers of economy fares to enable customers to tailor their experience, without compromising on food, drink and inflight entertainment

“We’re really proud that over 24 million customers have chosen to fly with Virgin Atlantic and Delta across the Atlantic since the start of our partnership five years ago,” said Juha Jarvinen, our EVP commercial. “Both airlines are relentlessly focused on delivering the best for our customers – from investing in new technology, sharing our innovative customer experience, and delivering the most punctual network operating out of London Heathrow. This year, we’ll take the next step in our journey through an expanded joint venture with Delta, Air France and KLM and we’re excited to bring our unrivalled service to even more customers.”

Corneel Koster, Delta’s senior vice president EMEAI, said: “We combined the strengths of our companies and brought together two award-winning airlines with great services and great brands, with a focus on making flying enjoyable. The partnership has gone from strength to strength and is hugely popular with our customers. The original deal was a game changer for Delta, transforming our ability to compete on key transatlantic business routes to and from London Heathrow, as much as providing Virgin Atlantic unparalleled access to Delta’s U.S. network.”