The Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd came out with flying colors in the 1990s when it was facing increasing financial problems at that time. Operating as Virgin Atlantic, the Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd is a British airline owned by Richard Branson's Virgin Group having a major share of 51 percent and Singapore Airlines having about 49 percent share. The long-haul routes are operated by this particular airline between United Kingdom and North America, the Caribbean, Africa, the Middle East, Asia, and Australia from its main bases at London Heathrow and London Gatwick. There is a smaller base near the Manchester Airport. The company has in its hold one of the important operating license, which is the United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority Type A Operating License. This particular license is required for getting the permission in order to fly down the passengers and the cargo, and mail on aircraft with 20 or more seats. The Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd alone carried about 6 million passengers in 2007.
| The beginning of the Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd can be traced back to the year 1982, when an American-born lawyer Randolph Fields and previous chief pilot for Laker Airways,Alan Hellary set up British Atlantic Airways which came as a direct heir to Laker Airways. After some years of struggle and significant events that became a part of the historical data related with Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd, the first inaugural scheduled air service between London Gatwick and Newark Liberty took place in the year 1984 by using Boeing 747-200 (G-VIRG). The Boeing 747-200 (G-VIRG) was previously operated by Aerolineas Argentinas.
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In the following years, the airline added another Boeing 747 and even started the second scheduled route from Gatwick to Miami. It may be noted that further routes were launched and several other aircrafts were added from Gatwick to New York-JFK (1988), Tokyo (1989), Los Angeles (1990), Boston (1991), and Orlando (1992). Also in the year 1987, another service was launched that used the Viscount turbo-prop aircraft however in the year 1990, it was withdrawn for some safety reasons.
It may be said that nearly all the 75% of Virgin's flights operate from London Heathrow airport and the rest of the flights operate from London Gatwick. There are some other services conducted from Manchester Airport and one flight from Glasgow International Airport.
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