May 19, 2017 TnH Global

Most Outstanding Airline in Business Class Virgin Atlantic

Q. How do you feel about your airline being honoured with the ‘Most Outstanding Airline in Business Class’ award by TnH magazine at its Travel & Hospitality Awards 2016?

We are absolutely delighted to be selected by TnH for its Travel & Hospitality Awards 2016 as the Most Outstanding Business Class Airline of the Year. At Virgin Atlantic, we want to be the airline most loved by our customers, so to receive this recognition is a fantastic feeling. Over the past 17 years, we’ve been proud to fly our Upper Class experience from India to London. Our Upper Class service consistently receives wonderful feedback from our Indian customers, so it’s brilliant to have it recognised.

Receiving recognition drives us to continue doing what we know we do best, innovating. Innovation has always been, and will always be, at the centre of who we are. We will continue to pioneer new ways to delight our customers, while also ensuring we run a smart, efficient business.

Q. What do you believe makes your airline the ‘Most Outstanding Airline in Business Class’?

When Virgin Atlantic launched over 30 years ago, we had a clear objective to drive change in the industry and transform the air travel experience. We’ve done this by putting the customer at the heart of everything we do – and that’s still our primary objective today.

We’re constantly reviewing and refining our seats, food, inflight entertainment and service to ensure that our customers receive a best-in-class experience when they fly with us, in any cabin. When it comes to our Upper Class experience, we have tailored a service for our customers that we know is uniquely Virgin Atlantic. We listen to our customers, and build our cabins and design our service around their needs.

And it’s this listening that results in delivering unique elements of service to our customers that sets us apart from our competitors; from our door to door chauffeur service (unique to Virgin Atlantic for any direct carrier from Delhi to London), to our exclusive Upper Class Wing with private security channel at London Heathrow.

With the launch of our 787 aircraft in 2015, we had the opportunity to completely review our seat functionality. Our customers travelling in Upper Class look to arrive at their destination feeling refreshed and rested, so our seats not only quickly and easily flip into a fully flat bed at the touch of a button, they also feature a mattress, full sized duvet and large pillow plus an aromatherapy experience to help them drift off.

Q. What do your customers value the most about your airline?

We are constantly reviewing how we can adapt our products and service in line with our customers’ needs and wants. In 2015, we committed to investing £300 million in customer experience by the end of 2018. Since 2015, we’ve made some incredible steps to achieving this goal including the introduction of a new food service for Upper Class, the launch of our 787 fleet and from the end of June, we’ll be the first transatlantic airline providing state-of-art Wi-Fi connectivity across our entire fleet.

We also know that when it comes to our customer experience a ‘onesize fits all’ approach doesn’t work and so we ensure that we’re delivering a service and experience that is unique for our passengers on every route we fly.

Q. How important is Indian market for you?

India has always been an important market for us. Following the UK’s Brexit vote, we anticipate that the importance of the Delhi route to our network will only continue to grow. The UK government has a focus on India as a key trading partner, and so we’re excited about (and will be championing) the new opportunities for India that will result in a bigger, stronger commercial partnership between the UK and India.

The recent fluctuations in the exchange rates between the Indian Rupee and British Pound mean that for our India-based customers, there is no better time to fly to the UK and we’re excited for them to start their journey with us, with true British flare, aboard our aircraft.

Over the past year, we’ve been preparing for this growth from India to the UK, and beyond. We’ve spent the past year focusing our efforts on improving and growing our codeshare agreements to increase our footprint and reach in India.

Q. What are the new initiatives by the airline for the Indian market?

In the future, what we’re really looking forward to is seeing our customers experience the full benefits of our IT upgrade that took place in November 2016, where we fully transitioned our IT system to deliver a new PSS technology platform. We want to deliver a simpler, faster, and more personalised Virgin Atlantic customer experience. Connecting with us via our new web platform is now effortless, on a desktop, tablet or smart phone device. Our new mobile app has improved functionality and a more stable experience.

We’re also currently investing in an upgrade and refurbishment of our award winning Virgin Altantic Clubhouse at London Heathrow ahead of its 10th Anniversary, to further improve the onground airport experience we deliver to customers. In the airline industry, you can’t afford to stand still, so we have other really exciting developments in the pipeline that will keep the Virgin Atlantic experience ahead of our competitors.

“We are absolutely delighted to be selected for the Travel & Hospitality Awards 2016 as the Most Outstanding Business Class Airline of The Year. At Virgin Atlantic, we want to be the airline most loved by our customers, so to receive this recognition is a fantastic feeling.”