Pride of place at Britain’s Farnborough Air Show usually goes to the biggest airlines with the biggest jets. But at this year’s jamboree in July, Virgin Atlantic, a David to British Airways’ Goliath, stole the show with one of its new midsize Airbus A330neos parked next to the runway.
Shai Weiss, Virgin Atlantic’s CEO, emerged from the front door to announce an order for another seven A330neos, taking the total number in Virgin’s fleet to 19 and making Virgin a majority Airbus carrier. That’s quite a turnaround. Sir Richard Branson’s carrier has mainly flown Boeing planes, notably its iconic 747 whose upper deck inspired Branson to call Virgin’s business-class offering Upper Class.
Virgin is not alone in its embrace of the A330neo. Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific, American giant Delta, Germany’s Condor, Malaysia Airlines and Portugal’s flag carrier TAP have all recently also announced large orders for the plane. Cathay has ordered 30 with rights for another 30.
Overall, in the four weeks after the Farnborough show, Airbus received 57 new firm orders for the A330neo and 60 options, overtaking other models as the most-ordered wide-body aircraft during that period. Overall, Airbus now has firm orders for 326 A330neos, 139 of which have been delivered.