Virgin Atlantic delays the retirement of its A340 aircraft yet again
Virgin Atlantic has extended the life of its aging Airbus A340-600 aircraft yet again, meaning some U.S. flyers on the airline may find themselves in a far older cabin than Virgin's A330 and Boeing 787, and especially than the brand-new A350.
The carrier's recent schedule update, spotted by RoutesOnline, mentions Virgin Atlantic has extended the service of its A340-600s until early January 2020.
The latest schedule update from Virgin Atlantic shows the A340-600 continuing service until January 5. Between November 7 and that date, the four-engined Airbus will operate on the following frequencies:
- London Gatwick (LGW) to Bridgetown, Barbados (BGI) — December 7
- London Heathrow (LHR) to Atlanta (ATL) — November 7 through January 5 (daily)
- London Heathrow (LHR) to Lagos, Nigeria (LOS) — December 13 through December 28 (2x weekly, 3x weekly for the week of December 21)
- London Heathrow (LHR) to New York (JFK)
- VS45/VS46 until December 8
- VS25/VS26 December 14 through December 28 (2x weekly)
- Manchester (MAN) to Atlanta (ATL) — December 14 through December 21
As always with airline operations, the above schedules and frequencies are subject to change. If you're booking one of these flights to try and get a last flight on the A346 before Virgin sends the planes into retirement, be sure to stay updated about the flight ops in the lead-up to your trip to make sure the aircraft isn't swapped out.
In September, Virgin unveiled its plans to keep the four-engine aircraft in service until December. This delay in retirement is likely due to ongoing issues with the Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines that the airline has on its 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft.
