By the start of the next decade, Virgin Atlantic will no longer have any aircraft with onboard bars, ending a decades-long feature that has been popular with customers. Is this a sad development, or is Virgin Atlantic just getting better at math?
Virgin Atlantic’s inflight bars aren’t long for this world
A couple of days ago, Virgin Atlantic announced that it would retrofit its Boeing 787-9s with all-new interiors. This is long overdue, since these planes have the most lackluster hard product of any of the carrier’s modern jets, especially in business class (referred to by the airline as “Upper Class”).
As the planes are reconfigured, they’re also going to become much more premium-heavy, with an extra 13 business class seats and 21 premium economy seats, at the expense of 65 economy seats.
However, it’s not all good news. As the Boeing 787-9s get a makeover, they’ll be losing the Upper Class bar, located by the second set of doors. The Dreamliners will actually be the first Virgin Atlantic planes to not have any sort of a social space.
In recent years, Virgin Atlantic has been moving away from the bar concept, while still embracing the idea of a social space. On both Airbus A350-1000s and Airbus A330-900neos, the airline has replaced the bar concept with The Loft, essentially a lounge area where guests can hang out.
This isn’t nearly as social or lively, which is a double edged sword. Some people love the bar, for the ability to chat with others, while some people aren’t a fan, given the noise that it often generates.
But the Dreamliners aren’t even getting The Loft concept. That’s because the space by the second set of doors will simply be used as a galley. Virgin Atlantic CEO Shai Weiss claims that the new social spaces on these planes will be the Retreat Suites, which I find to be a rather disingenuous claim.
These are the front row business class seats with extra space, and there will be eight of those on the reconfigured 787s. The idea is that they have a buddy seat, so it’s a place that passengers can hang out. However, I don’t think anyone would argue that’s an actual “social space” in the same way as a bar. Weiss claims that these seats could get an improved soft product in the future, like better champagne and food, but nothing specific has been announced there just yet.
Virgin Atlantic was a real innovator when it came to the idea of offering social spaces on planes. It’s one of the few airlines to offer a social space on every aircraft, as that’s not something that’s common, given the value of aircraft real estate.
I’m not surprised to see this change at Virgin Atlantic
Virgin Atlantic is a lovely airline to fly with, though the airline has consistently struggled with profitability over the years. I imagine that largely comes down to the challenges of being an airline that exclusively flies long haul, when you’re competing against British Airways, which has a much more extensive network.
Even with Delta acquiring a 49% stake in Virgin Atlantic, profitability at the airline still hasn’t been great. While I enjoy flying with Virgin Atlantic, the reality is that the airline just hasn’t been able to earn a revenue premium over British Airways.
Over the years, we’ve seen Virgin Atlantic cut some of the things that make it unique. Like, remember back when Virgin Atlantic had an inflight massage therapist, so Upper Class passengers would receive a massage? Or when the airline had chauffeur service for Upper Class?
It’s hard for executives at an airline to attribute any sort of revenue to a social space on a plane, when that could otherwise be used to add more seats. Perhaps the one exception is the Emirates A380, where that plane’s bar and showers have created an incredible halo effect for the airline overall, and I think no one can deny the power of that, especially since these amenities are in a part of the plane that can’t otherwise be fully utilized for seats.
Speaking of the bar, I’m reminded of comments that Virgin Atlantic founder Richard Branson made roughly a year ago. In an interview, he claimed that replacing the inflight bar with The Loft was “a dreadful mistake,” and claimed that Virgin Atlantic will “be bringing back the bar as soon as we possibly can.”
Heck, in the same interview, he claimed that Virgin Atlantic would introduce a new business class product that will be “ridiculously good,” “better than BA first class.”
Suffice it to say that none of that every materialized. I have huge respect for Branson — he’s a creative guy and seems like a genuinely nice person. But he’s definitely one of the billionaires who is more of a dreamer than an actual profit-focused business person. Or maybe he just says what people want to hear, and lets the bean counters bring him back down to earth.
Bottom line
Several years from now, Virgin Atlantic’s iconic inflight bar will be a thing of the past. As Virgin Atlantic reconfigures its Boeing 787s, it’ll also remove any social space, in order to install more seats. Virgin Atlantic has been moving away from the bar concept in recent years, instead embracing the idea of The Loft.
But now the airline will be moving even further away from the social space concept, by eliminating it altogether. I can’t say I’m surprised, but it sure is the end of an era…
What do you make of Virgin Atlantic ditching the inflight bar?
