Virgin Atlantic today celebrates one year of its Upper Class Wing at Heathrow-the award winning private check in and security channel at T3, which allows its Upper Class passengers to get from Check In to the Clubhouse in minutes. The launch of the Wing, which offers Upper Class passengers a seamless and super-fast journey through the airport, has seen the airline attract 11% more business travellers from Heathrow over the last 12 months. Following the success of the Wing, Virgin Atlantic been able to introduce a 40-minute minimum check in time for its Upper Class passengers offering them the fastest journey through an airport in the UK-quicker than T5.

Steve Ridgway, Chief Executive of Virgin Atlantic, commented:

"We are very proud of this amazing facility, which has transformed our customers 'journeys' through the airport. Our Upper Class passengers are taking as little as 5 minutes to get from their limos into our Clubhouse-leaving them more time for a haircut in the salon or an a la carte meal in the brasserie. The first year for the Upper Class Wing has been a real success � the appeal of such a slick airport experience has obviously attracted many more business travellers. It is clear that our investment in T3 has paid off and we are delighted that passengers agree"

Research conducted by Virgin Atlantic has found that 98% of passengers using the Upper Class Wing have rated their overall airport experience as Excellent or Good and that typically passengers are taking just 8 minutes to get from their limo through to the Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse. The excellent customer feedback and performance results are upheld by Wallpaper Magazine, which named the Upper Class Wing as the �World’s Fastest Check In’ earlier this year.

The Upper Class Wing enables business class passengers to speed from their Virgin Atlantic limos, through a dedicated security channel and through to the Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse in a matter of minutes. Upper Class passengers and Flying Club Gold members making their own way to the airport can check-in at the Upper Class Check-In, in Zone A of the main terminal, before taking a priority lift straight to the dedicated security channel.

The new facilities at T3 were designed by architects Foster + Partners in conjunction with BAA and Virgin Atlantic’s in-house design team. The new terminal is part of BAA’s £1 billion investment plan for Terminal 3 over the next ten years.

Virgin Atlantic currently operates 160 flights a week from Heathrow to a range of long-haul destinations worldwide, including New York, Washington, LA, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Miami, Johannesburg, Shanghai, Dubai, Mumbai, Delhi, Hong Kong, Sydney, Tokyo, Lagos and Nairobi.

For further information, please contact the Virgin Atlantic Press Office on +44 (0)1293 747373 or log onto the Virgin Atlantic website www.virginatlantic.com

Notes to Editors:

Virgin Atlantic’s customer satisfaction survey is undertaken for Virgin Atlantic by Holden Pearmain, an independent market research agency. It is completed in-flight by passengers. The samples taken are structured to ensure that a representative proportion of passengers complete the surveys so that results are not biased.

Additional findings included in this press release were drawn from an independent T3 research report commissioned by Virgin Atlantic.