Virgin Atlantic Unveil Special 'Thank You' Livery on Re-Instated A340-600

JamesCousins · Mon Feb 12, 2018 4:23 pm

Virgin Atlantic have withdrawn aptly named A340-600 aircraft 'Sleeping Beauty' from long-term storage, where it has sat since 2015, after purchase from it's former lessor. As a thank you to all of it's employees, specifically those responsible for the associated maintenance with bringing an aircraft out of long term storage, a special livery with the words 'a big virgin atlantic thank you' has been painted on the side of the aircraft, with the word 'rejuvenated' printed under the 'Sleeping Beauty' aircraft name. https://blog.virginatlantic.com/sleepin ... ck-g-vnap/

Without anthropomorphising our aircraft too much, Sleeping Beauty, one of our former Airbus A340-600 aircraft has been fast asleep in storage in Tarbes, France since 2015. After this long hibernation, our engineering teams have woken her up, checked her over and she is rejoining our fleet again. To celebrate, she’s had a rather special paint job.

KLDC10 · Mon Feb 12, 2018 4:25 pm

It's nice to see an A340 brought out of retirement, but the lack of any capitalization in the titles makes it quite difficult to read. At first glance I read "abig" instead of "A big".

JamesCousins · Mon Feb 12, 2018 4:31 pm

KLDC10 wrote:
It's nice to see an A340 brought out of retirement, but the lack of any capitalization in the titles makes it quite difficult to read. At first glance I read "abig" instead of "A big".

Agree, the thin font and narrow spacing don't help either, although it may be easier to read in person.

readytotaxi · Mon Feb 12, 2018 4:51 pm

What is the plan for this lady, another five years service perhaps?

JamesCousins · Mon Feb 12, 2018 4:53 pm

readytotaxi wrote:
What is the plan for this lady, another five years service perhaps?

Nothing concrete as of yet I believe, however I would guess since they own this aircraft, whereas the rest of the A340 fleet is leased it will be the last to be replaced by the incoming A350 deliveries. It is also worth noting it hasn't seen the more expensive metallic paint, but about 5 years seems reasonable to me. There's going to be a fair few AC leaving the fleet, what with the 747s & A340s being replaced with the A35Ks

oldannyboy · Mon Feb 12, 2018 4:57 pm

What a magnificent aircraft. The long script somehow makes the long fuselage look even longer....wow! Stunning!

JannEejit · Mon Feb 12, 2018 5:01 pm

Hard to tell from the pics, but have they opted for the flat non metallic red paint, as per the ex Air Berlin A332's ? Something I've come to refer to as 'emergency lease red' ? ;-)

reffado · Mon Feb 12, 2018 5:08 pm

Is this the only A346 they have in their new livery? They've been doing quite a bit of filling in for the parked 787s, so might be an opportunity for spotters to see them at various locations.

TC957 · Mon Feb 12, 2018 5:14 pm

She'll be replacing an existing 346 which is coming to the end of it's lease from what I've read. The A346 fleet will remain at 7. Which frame will leave ?
But it would be great of VS would bring back a couple at least more !

neomax · Mon Feb 12, 2018 5:30 pm

Looks like G-VNAP woke up from her nap!

JannEejit · Mon Feb 12, 2018 6:12 pm

JannEejit wrote:
Hard to tell from the pics, but have they opted for the flat non metallic red paint, as per the ex Air Berlin A332's ? Something I've come to refer to as 'emergency lease red' ?

Ah... info incuded in post by OP two above mine as I type. So flat red it is...

Armodeen · Mon Feb 12, 2018 6:54 pm

JannEejit wrote:
Hard to tell from the pics, but have they opted for the flat non metallic red paint, as per the ex Air Berlin A332's ? Something I've come to refer to as 'emergency lease red' ?

Yes they have. And lol, I like it!

TedToToe · Mon Feb 12, 2018 7:12 pm

Anybody would think SRB is back at the controls!

Dutchy · Mon Feb 12, 2018 7:13 pm

4 engines, 4 long haul, 4 ever

Antarius · Mon Feb 12, 2018 7:22 pm

This takes Billboard livery to a whole new level.

stl07 · Tue Feb 13, 2018 12:37 am

why was it woken back up?

JannEejit · Tue Feb 13, 2018 12:41 am

stl07 wrote:
why was it woken back up?

To replace a 'returning to lessor' A346 frame that couldn't be renegotiated for some reason. And also because of 787-9 engine issues ongoing.

ltbewr · Tue Feb 13, 2018 1:53 am

So, what routes will this a/c and the other 340's be mainly used on ?

BestWestern · Tue Feb 13, 2018 2:05 am

Whoever would have thought that a 340 would be replacing a 787!

horizon360 · Tue Feb 13, 2018 4:21 am

Quite a capacity upgrade over their 787-9. It's an extra 52 seats or so?

77west · Tue Feb 13, 2018 5:07 am

horizon360 wrote:
Quite a capacity upgrade over their 787-9. It's an extra 52 seats or so?

Yes but better to fly with 52 empty seats than have to cancel the flight because your 787-9 is sitting engineless...

Zidane · Tue Feb 13, 2018 5:13 am

Virgin, oddly enough, has never utilised the A346s outside LHR AFAIK. Should be the same old routes, would love if they were frequent at LGW though.

horizon360 · Tue Feb 13, 2018 5:51 am

77west wrote:
Yes but better to fly with 52 empty seats than have to cancel the flight because your 787-9 is sitting engineless...

Which raises a question. Given the A346's inefficiency vs the 789, IF Virgin could fill all those extra 52 seats would it make up for the extra costs associated with running it?

aemoreira1981 · Tue Feb 13, 2018 5:53 am

reffado wrote:
Is this the only A346 they have in their new livery? They've been doing quite a bit of filling in for the parked 787s, so might be an opportunity for spotters to see them at various locations.

Right now, yes. G-VGAS, G-VEIL, G-VELD, and G-VFAR made it to the new livery before being returned to Airbus (the lessor for the first two) or AerCap (owner of G-VELD) or retired and scrapped (G-VFAR was owned by VS). I presume Heathrow based?

User001 · Tue Feb 13, 2018 6:19 am

Zidane wrote:
Virgin, oddly enough, has never utilised the A346s outside LHR AFAIK. Should be the same old routes, would love if they were frequent at LGW though.

They operated the A346 frequently on MAN-LAS a few summers ago, about 2014/2015 IIRC.

skipness1E · Tue Feb 13, 2018 8:33 am

When BA reactivated G-BNLG from KVCV after storage, it was a hangar queen of sorts. It’s never the same again after being inactive so long. Willl they be fitting Wifi to G-VNAP do we know?

AAMDanny · Tue Feb 13, 2018 9:18 am

aemoreira1981 wrote:
reffado wrote:
Is this the only A346 they have in their new livery? They've been doing quite a bit of filling in for the parked 787s, so might be an opportunity for spotters to see them at various locations.

Right now, yes. G-VGAS, G-VEIL, G-VELD, and G-VFAR made it to the new livery before being returned to Airbus (the lessor for the first two) or AerCap (owner of G-VELD) or retired and scrapped (G-VFAR was owned by VS). I presume Heathrow based?

VFAR certainly did make it into the Billboard livery, however was a A340-300's and like it's sister ship VFAR another -300, has also been scrapped somewhere in the states.

TC957 · Tue Feb 13, 2018 11:06 am

I'm sure VNAP will be doing lots of JFK runs - the 45 UC seats will be needed and better than the 31 on the 789's to compete with BA's hi-J 86J 744's on JFK flights.

Richard28 · Tue Feb 13, 2018 11:54 am

TC957 wrote:
I'm sure VNAP will be doing lots of JFK runs - the 45 UC seats will be needed and better than the 31 on the 789's to compete with BA's hi-J 86J 744's on JFK flights.

I agree

On the short JFK runs the disadvantage of lower fuel efficiency (compared to the A333s and B789s) will also be less of a financial hit to VS.

chunhimlai · Tue Feb 13, 2018 12:08 pm

Do VS have enough A35K to replace their A346 and B744 fleet?

Pellegrine · Tue Feb 13, 2018 12:25 pm

"Just Gorgeous"

Eurowingsa320 · Tue Feb 13, 2018 12:34 pm

Does anyone know when it will be in schedule service?

JetBuddy · Tue Feb 13, 2018 12:36 pm

She looks really great. A340-600s are really elegant, especially in Virgin Atlantic livery.

CarbonFibre · Tue Feb 13, 2018 12:54 pm

reffado wrote:
Is this the only A346 they have in their new livery?

At the moment, yes. VEIL was as well but left the fleet in 2016.

wawaman · Tue Feb 13, 2018 4:19 pm

VNAP is just re-positioning MAN -> LHR. So I assume she returns to service tonight/tomorrow.

pasu129 · Tue Feb 13, 2018 5:14 pm

Will VS use VNAP on LGW-LAS-LGW? Vegas is a popular destination for the Brits

JamesCousins · Tue Feb 13, 2018 5:18 pm

pasu129 wrote:
Will VS use VNAP on LGW-LAS-LGW? Vegas is a popular destination for the Brits

Nope. The A340 has always been LHR based (aside from the odd occasion as mentioned above), the 744's usually take Vegas, due to high economy configs

JamesCousins · Tue Feb 13, 2018 5:20 pm

skipness1E wrote:
When BA reactivated G-BNLG from KVCV after storage, it was a hangar queen of sorts. It’s never the same again after being inactive so long. Willl they be fitting Wifi to G-VNAP do we know?

It doesn't have the WiFi domes up top in the photos I've seen, but I think they may have to? They advertise that they're the only EU carrier to have an all WI-Fi fleet all over the place, so they'll have to honour that. Plus if the A/C sees 5 years of service anyways it should pay for itself.

JamesCousins · Tue Feb 13, 2018 5:22 pm

Zidane wrote:
Virgin, oddly enough, has never utilised the A346s outside LHR AFAIK. Should be the same old routes, would love if they were frequent at LGW though.

What like they haven't utilized 789's outside LHR either? Helps to streamline cabin crew & pilot training, especially on such a small sub-fleet and keeps cabin experience consistent for LHR traffic.

Zidane · Tue Feb 13, 2018 7:34 pm

JamesCousins wrote:
Zidane wrote:
Virgin, oddly enough, has never utilised the A346s outside LHR AFAIK. Should be the same old routes, would love if they were frequent at LGW though.

What like they haven't utilized 789's outside LHR either? Helps to streamline cabin crew & pilot training, especially on such a small sub-fleet and keeps cabin experience consistent for LHR traffic.

VS has had dreamliners only recently now. My point was directed at how they've kept the A346 product mainly Heathrow centric since inception, for the reasons you correctly made that is.

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