Lifestyles: Virgin Atlantic invests £100M in fine dining for passengers

Virgin Atlantic has announced its biggest ever investment into the business class product, as it pledged £100million over the next three years to enhance its Upper Class offering around the world. As part of the investment, on board flights from Accra to London, a brand new Upper Class ‘fine dining’ experience will take to the skies from March 1.

Influenced by some of the best British restaurants and private members clubs, the new Upper Class dining service has been completely redesigned and customers will enjoy customised menus, with local delicacies such as Spicy Chicken stew with steamed rice and palava sauce. A new Virgin Atlantic icon will be revealed – a champagne ‘coupe’ glass made famous in the golden age of Hollywood – to serve the welcome drink, toasting the journey ahead. Another great British tradition, afternoon tea, will also be served on individual mini cake stands.

The launch of other new business class products will commence on Virgin’s Atlantic’s London Heathrow to New York JFK service with highlights including a new upper class cabin, an enhanced seat, a futuristic bar and many other cabin updates to give passengers a unique flying experience. A new multi million pound Clubhouse at the John F Kennedy airport will also be launched later in the year.

Making the announcement, Virgin Atlantic Chief Executive Steve Ridgway said: “Virgin Atlantic is famous for its pioneering product, and this investment will again establish our position as the leader in airline innovation and customer experience. Our new Upper Class dining service is unmistakably ‘Virgin’ and one that we know our passengers in Accra will enjoy.”


In developing its new Upper Class products, Virgin Atlantic recruited groups of its most frequent fliers to test the ideas and feed into their development - even allowing some to try out the beds with an overnight stay in the airline’s test facility.


Each passenger will receive their own mini cake stands including finger sandwiches, a delicious selection of cake, and scones with jam and clotted cream. Cabin crew will fill passengers’ very own stylish mini cake stand with whatever passengers choose to enjoy, served with a fresh cafetiere of coffee or a selection of fine teas. Breakfasts will be completely customisable and because of the way it’s prepared we now offer a completely meat free English Breakfasts too.

Having waved goodbye to our faithful Wilbur and Orville salt and pepper shakers, we are pleased to introduce a brand new Virgin Atlantic icon, a mini cocktail shaker. It snaps in half to form individual salt and pepper pots, using crushed peppercorns instead of finely ground pepper.


The new Upper Class cabin will be launched on Virgin Atlantic’s new Airbus A330-300 aircraft, due for delivery later in the spring as part of a $2.2bn aircraft investment program. To book a flight with Virgin Atlantic, log onto www.virginatlantic.com