Virgin Sun Airlines was founded in 1998 as a charter airline to ferry British vacationers to sunny Mediterranean and Canary Islands destinations. The airline’s shiny yellow fuselage and the signature ‘Virgin red’ tailed aircraft actually caught the attention of travelers wherever it went.
Based at Manchester Airport (MAN) in northwest England and Gatwick Airport (LGW) just south of London, Virgin Sun commenced operations in 1999. It leased two Airbus A320-200s to supply something novel from a charter airline.
Starting the holiday early
Seeking to appeal to those on their annual holiday somewhere sunnier than the British Isles, the airline had a shiny idea to get people in the vacation mood as soon as they boarded the aircraft. Virgin Sun Airlines did this by ditching the standard drinks and meal service and replacing it with something a bit of more appealing.
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The ultimate A320-200 to affix Virgin Sun continues its life across the pond. The one certainly one of the three to not fly for an additional Virgin Group airline, the previous G-VKID next briefly flew for Transair Sweden. From 2003 until 2010, it flew for the Spanish Iberworld Airlines (later Orbest) after which Russian carrier Rossiya until 2018. Since then, it has been flying for Allegiant Air as N235NV.
The airline’s only Airbus A321 also went to Spain directly afterward, flying for LTE International Airways until 2005. The jet then flew for Turkish Airlines for seven years before a stint at Nordwind Airlines. Earlier this yr, the aircraft moved to the similarly named Southwind Airlines and stays based in Antalya.
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