Virgin Atlantic “Taxi for Takeoff” cab cruises the Big Apple

This week Virgin Atlantic unveiled a brand new marketing program in New York, known as “Taxi For Takeoff”.

The promotional program took a traditional London black cab and painted it in the airline’s signature velvet red colours and titles before roaming the streets of Manhattan earlier this week.

Onboard the London taxi, Virgin cabin crew members surprised a guest or two for a ride; treating them to an almost identical service to what they can find onboard a traditional Virgin Atlantic flight.

Refreshments including a Ruby Slipper mocktail and afternoon tea were served on the ride. In addition, the red cab featured wireless charging pads and in-flight entertainment screens in the back of the seats.

All of these features are a huge promotional nod to Virgin’s latest aircraft type, the Airbus A330-900neo.

The aircraft recently started flying on the airline’s flagship route from London Heathrow to New York JFK, hence the launch of this new marketing program.

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The Airbus A330neo

The Airbus A330neo is the latest addition to the Virgin Atlantic fleet. At the front of the Upper Class cabin are two spacious suites. 

Each Retreat Suite boasts an ottoman that doubles up as an extra seat so up to four people can enjoy an intimate dinner together in their own private social space, or settle in comfort to watch a film on the 27″ touchscreen.

As well as being luxurious, the new A330neo’s are exceptionally environmentally friendly; offering 11% better fuel efficiency, and a 50% reduction in airport noise profile.

Speaking on the new aircraft type’s debut in the Big Apple, Virgin founder Richard Branson said:  “Since our first flight to New York almost 40 years ago, we’ve strived to deliver an unrivalled experience for our customers.”

“From the first flat beds, seatback screens, and fleet-wide Wi-Fi, to the famous Clubhouses and amazing cabin crew, flying with Virgin Atlantic is an experience like no other.”

“Customers can now fly on our beautiful A330neo from London and stay at the brand-new Virgin Hotels New York City. It’s a special moment for Virgin as we continue to deliver brilliantly different experiences for our customers traveling between London and New York City.”

Virgin Atlantic and New York

Virgin Atlantic’s history with New York goes way back to when the airline first started flying in 1984.

London Gatwick to Newark Liberty (EWR) in New York was the first ever route operated by the airline and it is now the airline’s flagship route.

Although the airline doesn’t operate out of Gatwick anymore, nor does it fly to Newark, Virgin continues to serve New York to the fullest extent.

Currently the airline operates 6 flights a day to New York JFK from Heathrow using all of the aircraft types the airline operates – Airbus A350-1000, A330-900neo, A330-300 and Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner.

Paired with the airline’s long time friend and now SkyTeam partner, Delta, the two airlines operate a combined total of 8 flights per day between the two cities.

Virgin’s most recent move on the LHR-JFK route includes debuting its Airbus A330-900neo on the route, with the latest onboard features and best possible passenger experience.

Furthermore, the airline recently increased its daily flights from 5 to 6 siting astonishing passenger demand increases following the pandemic.

After all, the LHR-JFK route is without fail the busiest in the world with 5 airlines operating up to 23 daily flights.

As big as that number seems, that is excluding flights from Newark to Heathrow and JFK to Gatwick, which would push the numbers well into the 30s.