Virgin Atlantic "Little Red" to cease operation

[Saab34]

Papers reporting this morning here in London that VS Little Red to cease operation. Media reporting this week will be the final operational week.

Branson U-turn as new British airline to shut | The Sunday Times

 

[anat0l]

Wow. That was quick.

Well there goes pretty much the domestic competition. I wonder what will come of the Little Red slots at LHR.

 

[Cool Cat Phil]

Wow, if this turns out to be true, VS got their hands burnt very quickly.

 

[trippin_the_rift]

Full credit to Little Red for giving it a shot!

There's no shame in closing a business.

 

[Cool Cat Phil]

Full credit to Little Red for giving it a shot!

There's no shame in closing a business.

Well said. Let's see how this unfolds anyway.

 

[anat0l]

Full credit to Little Red for giving it a shot!

There's no shame in closing a business.

That's the first time I've heard anyone praise a young airline which is closing for just that.

Most of the critique will say it was simply a flawed business and foolish investment, hence why they didn't survive, or simply that they didn't tough it out for long enough.

 

[notzac]

Lots of question marks as to the correctness of the article - folk have apparently asked VS Little Red crew, who know nothing about it:

V-Flyer Forums • View topic - Sunday Times reporting LR to close

I hope it's not true (was hoping to take a Little Red flight at the end of the year), but see what transpires I guess.

 

[anat0l]

Lots of question marks as to the correctness of the article - folk have apparently asked VS Little Red crew, who know nothing about it:

V-Flyer Forums • View topic - Sunday Times reporting LR to close

Now that's rather concerning....

Though if it were not true, SRB is usually quick to jump on these things. Really quick.

If it's a publicity stunt ("just kidding"), it'd be a little bit sick...

 

[jpk]

Full credit to Little Red for giving it a shot!
There's no shame in closing a business.

The entire point of Little Red was to get the LHR landing slots. To get them VS had to run those domestic routes for a couple years, then they could be converted to other destinations. I don't think Virgin ever expected Little Red to make much or any profit, the goal was always long term - get the slots to expand the long haul operation. Most people expected Little Red to shutdown as soon as the regulatory need was gone - the operation was wet leased from Aer Lingus. Now that DL pulls the strings at VS and gutted their network last week, it would appear they no longer want those slots and hence it might shutdown sooner.

 

[Princess Fiona]

Virgin ditches Little Red

Tough times for Branson
Virgin Atlantic cancels Little Red domestic flight service - BBC News

 

[notzac]

Re: Virgin ditches Little Red

I commented on this elsewhere, but if your customers want one thing (a standalone domestic network) and you set up the operation to do something else (support a long-haul network), then it should come as no surprise to anyone when things don't work out the way you want.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Re: Virgin ditches Little Red

A friend of mine has done a few Little Red flights - connecting off VS long haul. They have always reported the flights to be near empty