Master

of Supply Chain Management

Virgin Atlantic case study

Virgin Atlantic, a trade name of Virgin Atlantic Airways Limited and Virgin Atlantic
International Limited, is a British airline with its head office in Crawley, United Kingdom. The
airline was established in 1984 as British Atlantic Airways, and was originally planned by its co-
founders Randolph Fields and Alan Hellary to fly between London and the Falkland Islands. Soon
after changing the name to Virgin Atlantic Airways, Fields sold his shares in the company after
disagreements with Sir Richard Branson over the management of the company. The maiden
flight from London Gatwick to Newark Liberty International Airport took place on 22 June 1984.
The airline along with Virgin Holidays is controlled by a holding company, Virgin Atlantic Limited,
which is 51% owned by the Virgin Group and 49% by Delta Air Lines.

Virgin Atlantic now serves over 30 destinations worldwide.
Thanks to the joint venture with
Delta Air Lines, the choice of destinations the company can now offer easy connections from the
UK to more than 200 new North American gateways. The company operates a total of 32 daily
nonstop flights between North America and the UK, of which 24 flights will operate between
London Heathrow and popular US destinations, such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, Atlanta and
Washington.

In 2015, Virgin Atlantic carried 5.7 million passengers, making it the seventh-largest UK airline in
terms of passenger volume.


Virgin Atlantic, as all airlines companies, is confronted to development of e-commerce and m-
commerce and the modifications of consumer behaviour in term of purchase decisions.

Questions for discussion

1. Identify the different steps of a shopper’s journey mapping on airline market. 

2. Associate to each step of a travel shopper’s journey mapping, the possible contact

touchpoints. 

3. Analyse the Virgin Altlantic’s strategy on website and mobile. Explain why 
remarketing
actions are important for airlines companies. 


Appendix 1 : Customer touchpoints

Source : www.service-innovation.org

Appendix 2 : Virgin Atlantic remarketing operation

Source : http://www.salecycle.com/virgin-atlantic/