Delta, Virgin Atlantic Unveil New Schedule Between London Heathrow and Atlanta and Los Angeles

ATLANTA and LONDON, May 21, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) and Virgin Atlantic Airways will transfer operations for nonstop flights connecting London-Heathrow to Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport and Los Angeles International Airport this winter, offering more choices for the airlines' customers on key routes across the Atlantic. 

Effective Oct. 26, 2014, Delta will begin operating one of two daily Heathrow-Los Angeles flights currently operated by Virgin Atlantic. This new Delta service will mark the airline's first nonstop flight between Los Angeles and London Heathrow and is Delta's seventh nonstop destination between London and the United States. Virgin Atlantic will begin operating one of Delta's three daily flights between Heathrow and Atlanta. The new services will expand the award-winning service offered by both carriers to customers as well as provide greater choice for travel between the U.K. and North America. The two airlines will codeshare on each other's operated services, allowing Delta and Virgin customers seamless access to the expanded network.

"It's great to see how our partnership with Delta is already proving fruitful to our customers," said Craig Kreeger, Virgin Atlantic CEO. "In less than a year we will have co-located key business routes, delivered schedule changes to benefit our customers and provided enhanced experiences to our frequent fliers, who gain from reciprocal lounge access and the ability to earn and burn across both carriers. This is just the beginning of demonstrating how a true joint venture between airlines should be operated to benefit customers."

This announcement also shows how the partnership, which launched on Jan. 1, 2014, is increasing the network of each carrier. Virgin Atlantic will have access to Delta's Atlanta hub, the busiest airport in the world, for the first time, providing expansive and unprecedented access for Virgin Atlantic customers to connect to points throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean.  The airline will now be able to offer more than 100 additional international and domestic connections to its customers. This brings the total number of connections available through the partnership to more than 200.

"From the outset we said that our partnership with Virgin Atlantic was about improving services while offering more destinations and schedule choice," said Delta President Ed Bastian. "Expanding access to London's Heathrow Airport has long been at the top of Delta's list of priorities, while Virgin Atlantic has long wanted greater access to North America. Today's announcement shows how we're delivering this shared commitment to increase connectivity on the trans-Atlantic."

Delta and Virgin Atlantic's new winter 2014 schedule between Heathrow and Los Angeles and Atlanta is available today:

Virgin Atlantic's LHR-ATL service will operate on the following schedule:

Delta's LHR-LAX flights will operate as follows:

Combined, the two airlines operate a total of 32 peak daily nonstop flights between North America and the U.K., including 24 flights between London Heathrow and popular U.S. destinations.  Delta recently co-located its New York, Boston and Seattle routes into Terminal 3 – Virgin Atlantic's home at Heathrow Airport. This move provided additional choice and flexibility to customers while reducing onward transit times.

Virgin Atlantic will continue to operate two daily services to Los Angeles and Delta will continue to fly three daily services to Atlanta, until Oct. 26, 2014.

Notes to editors

• Both services will go on sale today through Delta Air Lines on 800-241-4141 and www.delta.com and Virgin Atlantic on 1 800 862 8621, and www.virginatlantic.com on Thursday
• Delta will continue to operate its Atlanta, Detroit and Minneapolis services from London Heathrow's Terminal 4.
• Virgin Atlantic will operate its Atlanta flight from Heathrow Terminal 3
• VS Los Angeles service schedule 
  VS008 LAX 1715 LHR 1200 VS A340-600
  VS007 LHR 1055 LAX 1425 VS A340-600
• Delta Atlanta services schedule
  DL028 ATL 1925 LHR 0845 DL 767-400ER
  DL030 ATL 2144 LHR 1105 DL 767-300ER
  DL029 LHR 1250 ATL 1743 DL 767-400ER
  DL031 LHR 1515 ATL 2009 DL 767-300ER

About Delta Air Lines

Delta Air Lines serves nearly 165 million customers each year. This year, Delta was named the 2014 Airline of the Year by Air Transport World magazine and was named to FORTUNE magazine's top 50 Most Admired Companies in addition to being named the most admired airline for the third time in four years. With an industry-leading global network, Delta and the Delta Connection carriers offer service to 322 destinations in 59 countries on six continents. Headquartered in Atlanta, Delta employs nearly 80,000 employees worldwide and operates a mainline fleet of more than 700 aircraft. The airline is a founding member of the SkyTeam global alliance and participates in the industry's leading trans-Atlantic joint venture with Air France-KLM and Alitalia as well as a newly formed joint venture with Virgin Atlantic. Including its worldwide alliance partners, Delta offers customers more than 15,000 daily flights, with hubs in Amsterdam, Atlanta, Cincinnati, Detroit, Minneapolis-St. Paul, New York-JFK, New York-LaGuardia, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Salt Lake City and Tokyo-Narita. Delta has invested billions of dollars in airport facilities, global products, services and technology to enhance the customer experience in the air and on the ground. Additional information is available on delta.com, Twitter @Delta, Google.com/+Delta, Facebook.com/delta and Delta's blog takingoff.delta.com.

About Virgin Atlantic

Virgin Atlantic was founded by entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson 30 years ago after he decided the UK aviation industry needed shaking up and having some style injected back into it. On 22^nd June 1984, Virgin Atlantic's inaugural flight to Newark took place, on an aircraft filled with personal friends, celebrities and the media.  

Today, Virgin Atlantic flies to 33 destinations worldwide, including locations across North America, the Caribbean, Africa, and the Far East.  

In 2013 Virgin Atlantic launched a domestic airline, Little Red.  Little Red flies across the UK, with 24 daily flights between Manchester, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and London. Passengers can experience seamless connections onto the airline's long haul routes at Heathrow airport.

In the winter of 2012, Virgin Atlantic announced a joint venture with Delta Air Lines, creating an expanded trans-Atlantic route network and enhancing competition between the UK and North America.  The two airlines now codeshare across 108 routes, offering passengers seamless connections to 66 destinations. 

Virgin Atlantic has pioneered a range of innovations setting new standards of service, which its competitors have subsequently sought to follow.  Recently it redesigned its Upper Class cabin, which included a new seat and a futuristic bar, which is the longest in the sky.  Additionally, its entire leisure fleet of aircraft recently competed a £50 million renovation and includes a newly designed more comfortable seat and a brand new touch screen in-flight entertainment system, offering over 300 hours of the latest films, television shows, music and games.

Virgin Atlantic has enjoyed huge popularity, winning top business, consumer and trade awards from around the world. The airline has been awarded a Smart Technologies Award from The Wearables 2014 for its innovative trial of Google Glass and Sony Smart Watches in its Upper Class Wing.  Other awards include best long-haul airline and best airport lounge at the Telegraph Ultra Travel Awards and Europe's leading airline lounge for the Heathrow Clubhouse at The World Travel Awards. The airline was recently placed 8^th in the UK Coolest Brands League and last year was named Travel Brand of the Decade .  

Virgin Atlantic currently has a fleet of 39 aircraft which includes comprised of Boeing 747s, Airbus A340-600s, A340-300 and A330-300s as well as four leased A320s on Little Red routes. The airline is expecting delivery of 16 Boeing 787 Dreamliners from September 2014.    

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20090202/DELTALOGO   
Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20131111/CL14160LOGO

SOURCE Delta Air Lines