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Little Red Services Ending in 2015

1-Little Red take off

Due to subpar performance, Little Red will begin shutting down after only 18 months of operation.

Despite the efforts of Virgin Atlantic, the domestic operations of imprint Little Red will soon be shutting down. The British airline announced on Monday that Little Red would be completely shut down by September 2015, just over two years after the subsidiary first took flight.

The challenges faced by Little Red have been well documented in recent months. In September, The Telegraph reported U.K. Civil Aviation Administration statistics showing the Little Red’s average load factor was only 37.6 percent in 2013, a figure the airline struggled to increase in 2014. AFP reports that, in a printed statement made by Virgin Atlantic, the airline acknowledged that “Demand has been predominantly from point-to-point customers rather than connecting traffic.”

Little Red was launched in 2013 as a response to British Airways’ 2012 purchase of British Midland Airways. Executives at Virgin Atlantic have been quick to blame the lack of gate space at London Heathrow Airport (LHR) as one of the mitigating factors in Little Red’s closing.

“It was always a huge challenge on behalf of the consumer, as the totally inadequate number of slots made available by the European Commission did not deliver close to BA’s network position,” Virgin Atlantic CEO Craig Kreeger told The Telegraph. “The time lag between the takeover of [British Midland Airways] and our entering the market also meant Little Red initially faced an uphill battle to win recognition and convert customers to its services.”

According to the Virgin Atlantic website, Little Red flies from LHR to Aberdeen Airport (ABZ), Edinburgh Airport (EDI) and Manchester Airport (MAN). In a shutdown timetable printed by AFP, flights between LHR and MAN will end in March 2015, while LHR routes to ABZ and EDI will end in September 2015.

[Photo: Virgin Atlantic]

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FastSRT8 October 8, 2014

WOW! I had better enjoy my flight with them next month. It will likely be my only time with them. The product looks so good too.