Where are they now?

Hello

It's a nightshift and I'm bored so here (for all you spotter types ) is a list of the a/c that have left the Virgin fleet. I got the info from the V-Flyer FAQ section, the A.net photo search engine and various bits of paper lying around at work.

747-200

G-TKYO left Feb 94
to: N616FF Tower Air
then: N525UP UPS

G-VRGN left Mar 95
to: N618FF Tower Air
then: N526UP UPS

G-VMIA left Jan 00
broken up at Kemble

G-VOYG left ?? 99
broken up at Kemble

G-VIRG left Dec 01
to: 5N-NNN Kabo Air

G-VGIN left Oct 01
to: 5N-EEE Kabo Air

G-VJFK left Jul 01
to: 5N-PDP Kabo Air

G-VLAX left Jul 01
to: 5N-PPP Kabo Air

G-VCAT left Oct 03
to: G-CCMA European (stored Bournemouth)

G-VRUM left Oct 03
to: G-VRUM European (stored San Antonio, Tx)

G-VZZZ/G-VPUF/G-VIBE still belong to VS although are unlikely to fly for the airline again. The a/c are stored at Mojave, Ca.

G-VBEE/G-VSSS also still belong to VS but are sub-leased to Air Atlanta Europe until May 2005.

A340-300
G-VSKY left Jan 04
to: 9Y-JIL BWIA

A320

Virgin Atlantic
G-OUZO left Jan 00
to: G-JOEM Airtours
then: G-JOEM My Travel Lite

Virgin Sun
G-VMED left Nov 01 (although leased until Apr 04)
to: SE-RCF GoodJet
then: TC-OGF Atlas Jet

G-VTAN left Nov 01 (although leased until Apr 04)
to: TC-OGE Atlas Jet

G-VKID left Nov 01 (although leased until Dec 04)
to: SE-RCD Transair Sweden
then: SE-RCD GoodJet
then: EC-IMU Iberworld

A321
Virgin Atlantic
G-VATH left Nov 01 (although leased until Apr 05)
to: EC-IMA Volar

Virgin Sun
G-VKIS left Nov 01 (although leased until Apr 05)
to: EC-ILG Volar

Cheers
Alan

I believe that G-JOEM has now left my travel and been returned to the lessor (IFLC I think) so persume she is with another carrier.

Hi Will

There are recent pics of G-JOEM in MYT colours on A.net. I must admit I'm not really up to date with fleet changes though (other than VS of course! )

Cheers
Alan

""G-VMIA"

One more for the list.

767

PH-MCG left?
To PH-MCG Martin air

Cheers

phil

I thought the 767 was just a temporary measure and was on loan from martinair? Rather like first choice bring in a/c from skyservice over the summer season. Wasnt till new 744's arrived? Therefore I would have thought that it wasnt a proper VS a/c!hehe! What was the situation with the 767- operated LGW-MCO didnt it?

Ooo! Spirit of Sir Freddie! My first VS long haul flight! I think it went from Gatwick to Boston. I remember being surprised at how old the plane was - there seemed to be foam stuffed around the top of the bulkheads (which I only noticed when I was getting off) Do I remember rightly that the loo doors had Chinese symbols (charaters?) on them? I'm sure I saw that and wondered where they'd got the aircraft from.

How ironic it was broken up at Kemble (just down the road from Malmesbury) I think I must have seen it as I was driving past - so sad...I hate seeing the planes dismantled there. They usually have their names and some colours removed but you can sometimes see which airlines they used to belong to. A few DC10s (or maybe the MD version?) on the tarmac the other week.

(PS.Note to Kemble and RAF - Bring back the Red Arrows so I can have my own airshow twice a day throughout the summer! )

LMAO here... I never new Virgin Atlantic had any of these AC! Learn something new every day... Where did the A320's fly to? and from?
John

Sir Freddie was brought of Cathay Pacific hence the chinesse writing as far as I can remember.

the A320's and 321's operated to Athens until the route was stoped in 2001. The Virgin Sun 320's were operated by Virgin Sun the tour company- who tried to offer package holidays to our european destinations (AGP,PMI etc etc)

Talking of Athens, that reminds me.... The route was first operated by 737-400 G-UKLB (leased from AirUK Leisure) which went on to become PH-BPB with KLM.

A320 G-OUZO was formerly SX-BSV/EI-VIR.

The leased 763 from Martinair was used on the MAN-MCO route which was operated summer only in the late 90's.

Cheers
Alan

I live about two hours south of Mojave. Very interesting place. You are driving along a two lane road in the middle of NOWHERE, and come over a hill and are greeted with what appears to be an international airport. Hundreds of airliners sitting around.

Very sad sight also to see these mighty machines just sitting. After 9-11 it was VERY SAD, but the inventory has deminshed since then.

You can clearly see the VS tail amongst the aircraft. I have some photos from when we flew up there in my Cessna (That's right, I WAS afraid to fly commercial, but am a Cessna pilot!) If I can ever figure out how to upload photos, I will post.

Here is the website for Mojave Airport, good stuff.. http://www.mojaveairport.com/

There is a large section with photos in regards to Sir Richard Branson's new show... Rebel Billionaire. Parts were filmed at Mojave.

quote:As an internationally known CEO, Sir Richard Branson is know for thinking "out of the box". He's a rebel, and he's bringing his unusual philosophy to the world of reality TV. The Rebel Billionaire: Richard Branson's Quest for the Best will debut on FoxTV on November 9, with opening credits having been filmed at Mojave, using one of Virgin Atlantic's elegantly-appointed 747 jumbo jets.

Also, may I copy your list of where these planes are for my FOF board. Many members there are worried about flying on "older" aircraft. May help them to see that these birds are STILL flying!

Thanks,

Mark

im glad you posted this. on G-VMIA it was deffinitly a 747-100 as it had the 3 upper deck windows also it oculd not have come from CX as they never operated the 741 or the 742 with 3 windows. i am just going to do a bit of research on the 741 and find out where it was from. btw to those who flew vmia what was it like ie anyone fly on the upper deck and also what was the entertainment system and all that lol. thanks!

well it appears from a quick a.net search it started out with american as n9669 http://www.airliners.net/open.file/307880/M/ (hence the boeing code of 23 (AA's code)(B747-123)) before being sold to highland express as G-HIHO http://www.airliners.net/open.file/408688/M/ the short lived airline operating betwqeen scotland and newark via london gatwick (or heathrow), and i think later on via BHX. before being sold to vs and becoming the spirit of sir freddie http://www.airliners.net/open.file/408688/M/ . my friend who used to live in miami told me that he often flew g-vmia and apperently the upper deck was like a kitchen or something he wasnt sure of. so any info would still be good. also has anyone travelled on the vs a321/a320 when they were in service im also wondering on what that was like.

I stand corrected G-VSKY- but some of the 742's came from CX i certainly now that (as well as NZ).

Now Sir Freddie was with American and Highland Express prior to flying with VS- her c/n is 20108/87 and she was registered as N9669 and G-HIHO. She was delivered to american in 1970 and was finally withdrawn from service in 2000. She did have PTV's as VS have operated with PTV's from cercca 1990 i belive. Highland Express was of course a failed GB carrier (backed by SRB) which lead to the creation of VS hence her transfering to VS.

So as for the chinnese writing- i have no idea although she operated for AA out of LAX to the Far East so that may have something to do with it. Although if u were on one of the ex CX 742s that wld make more sense.

thanks willd. it brings to question though was this the only 741 ever to operate with ptvs? and also deffinitly vs operated some ex cx 742s. still does anyone know about the upper deck?

I would have thought the Upper Deck contained either UC or PE but she would have just had 3 windows on either side- a quick look on trusty a.net shows that upper deck was operated as normal with the 3 windows and internal lighting- i guess its no different to blanked out windows on lower deck of the 747 or on say a 763.

quote:Originally posted by California Mark
I live about two hours south of Mojave. Very interesting place. You are driving along a two lane road in the middle of NOWHERE, and come over a hill and are greeted with what appears to be an international airport. Hundreds of airliners sitting around.

Here is the website for Mojave Airport, good stuff.. http://www.mojaveairport.com/

With cheap fuel too....

Cheers,

Sahajesh

Hi Mark

Yes feel free to use the list. Thanks for the Mojave link. I see they used G-VZZZ 'Morning Glory' for the filming...it must've taken ages to get all the speed tape off! I visited Mojave in early 2001 but I'm sure it's a lot busier now...lots of DL L1011s and AA DC-10s lined up if I remember correctly.

If I get a chance I'll write a list of where all the Classics came from.

Cheers
Alan

Afternoon all,

Well its a boring friday afternoon so I thought I would do some research on the classics and tell you all where they came from!So here we go (mainly thanks to A.net):

G-VMIA 741 Ex N9669 and G-HIHO (American and Highland Express)
Spirt of Sir Freddie

G-TKYO 742 Ex 9V-SQN (Singapore)
Maiden Tokyo

G-VRGN 742 Ex 9V-SQL (singapore)
Maid Of Honour

G-VOYG 742 Ex OY-KHA, LN-AEO and G-BMGS (SAS, Nigerian and Caledonian + BA!!!! [:0])
Shady Lady

G-VIRG 742 Ex LV-LZD (Aerolineas Argentina)
Maiden Voyager

G-VGIN 742 Ex I-DEMU (alitalia)
Scarlet Lady

G-VJFK 742 Ex-VH-EBH (qantas)
Boston Belle

G-VLAX 742 Ex VH-EBI (qantas)
california girl

G-VCAT 742 Ex VR-HIE (cathay pacific)
wild thing

G-VRUM 742 Ex VR/B-HIF (cathay pacific) briefly TF-ATV with air atlanta
Calypso Queen

G-VZZZ 742 Ex ZK-NZV (air new zealand)
morning glory

G-VPUF 742 Ex ZK-NZY (air new zealand) briefly with air pacific as same reg.
high as a kite

G-VIBE 742 Ex ZK-NZZ/9M-MHH (air new zealand and malaysian)also spent a season working for airtours international (now MYT)under air nz reg (yours trully flew on it then!)
dancing queen/spirit of new york


So there we have it- i think may have left 1 off by mistake! O and have a look at this picture of the PTV's in 2001....funny how quickly we forget how small they were and now we complain when no v:port!!! http://www.airliners.net/open.file/167016/M/

If you check out This topic there is some info on the old aircraft and link's to boneyard's.

Cheers

Phil

Will -- I edited your message since the lengthy URL you posted screws up my browser something terrible. I've replaced it with the standard A.Net link to the same image.

BC

Thanks Alan!

I posted the information here.

Willd: May I also use the infomation that you posted???

Blackcat: How do I embed a link in a word, such as you did in your edit. I hate posting long links!

I also posted a link to this site on our FOF board. I think it would be great for folks with flight anxiety to see how casual you all are about commmercial airline travel.

Thanks all!

Cheers,

Mark

quote:Originally posted by California Mark


How do I embed a link in a word, such as you did in your edit.

If you go Hereit will show you how.

Cheers

Phil

Blackcat- cheers for the edit.

Mark- Yes sure you can use the info provided!

Thanks Phil!!!

It worked!

Learn something new everyday.

Mark