Virgin Atlantic sets off to New York with their inaugural A350 service

Virgin Atlantic took delivery of their first A350 last month. Today on the 10th of September it sets off on its inaugural journey to New York’s JFK airport.

The new aircraft G-VLUX is an Airbus A350-1000 that was given the name “Red Velvet”. It features an updated version of Virgin Atlantic’s on board social experience “The loft”. The airline says it offers the largest social space in their entire fleet. The loft falls in between the aircrafts Upper and Premium Class seating. As for seating the aircraft aircraft features a 1-2-1 configuration in Upper Class, 2-4-2 Premium Class, and a 3-3-3 configuration for the aircrafts Economy Class.

The Upper Class seating features 44 seats with each dubbed as a “Suite” and are in a reverse herringbone style. They offer lie flat 82” bedding for rest with what Virgin Atlantic says is the thickest pillow in the sky. A luxurious 18.5” In flight entertainment screens with a variety of channels and movies, Suite specific mood lighting meaning your individual seat has its own mood lighting feature. Unfortunately there isn’t too much privacy, the seat features partitions instead of doors. This was said to increase the social experience while on board.

The Premium Class on board the brand new A350-1000 features 56 seats in the 2-4-2 configuration with a seat pitch of 36”, adjustable headrests at every seat, USB and power outlets at every seat, and a 13.5” in flight entertainment system that will be controlled by personal electronics.

Economy Class features 235 seats in the 3-3-3 configuration. Economy Classic and Economy Light passengers will be presented with 31” of seat pitch while those in Economy Delight will be presented with 34” of seat pitch. 11.6” in flight entertainment systems which are also controlled by personal electronics, and as for every class you’ll have access to USB power ports at your seat.

Virgin has yet to announce further routing plans for the aircraft other than today’s inaugural service to New York’s JFK airport as VS153. You can track the flight on Flight Radar 24 as it’s set to depart in just a few minutes from Heathrow airport in London.

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