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| Founded | 1998 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Commenced operations | May 1999 | |||
| Ceased operations | 31st October 2001 | |||
| Hubs | ||||
| Fleet size | 4 | |||
| Destinations | 17 | |||
| Headquarters | The Galleria, Crawley, West Sussex, UK[1] | |||
| Key people | Richard Branson (chairman of the Virgin Group) | |||
Virgin Sun Airlines often known just as Virgin Sun, was a British scheduled & charter airline which was created and owned by Virgin in 1998. The airlines main destinations were the Mediterranean and the Canary Islands.
Virgin Sun's main bases were Manchester Airport and London Gatwick Airport.[2]
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Virgin Sun started as a charter airline operating from Gatwick and Manchester terminal 2, leasing 2 Airbus A320-200 aircraft.[3] Virgin Sun then received a third A320-200 and it's first and only Airbus A321-200 the following year.
On 31 October 2001, two years after the airline commenced operations, Richard Branson decided to cease the operations of Virgin Sun, due to failing to make the expected profits.[4] After Richard Branson was looking for an airline to buy the company, it was eventually sold to Air2000 which became First Choice Airways, who have now merged with Thomsonfly.[5] Virgin Sun ceased operations the following day. Two of the Airbus A320-200s were put into storage in Bristol, and the Airbus A321-200 (G-VKIS) and one of the Airbus A320-200s (G-VMED) were returned to the lessor, GECAS. One of the Airbus A320-200s (G-VKID) was sold on 21 June 2002 to the low-cost Swedish airline Goodjet, which is now defunct. The other Airbus A320-200 (G-VTAN) was eventually sold to Virgin Atlantic on 22 June 2004, but they didn't need it, so it went to Atlasjet the following month.[6]
The Virgin Sun fleet consisted of the following aircraft:[7]
| Aircraft | Total | Passengers |
|---|---|---|
| Airbus A320-200 | 3 | 180 |
| Airbus A321-200 | 1 | 220 |
The airline featured prominently in the 2000 movie Kevin and Perry Go Large. One of Virgin Sun's Airbus A320-200 aircraft (G-VMED) was seen landing at Ibiza Airport.
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