Virgin Atlantic (VS, London Heathrow) is planning to phase out its fleet of two remaining A340-300s by early 2015 as its first of sixteen B787-9s on order from Boeing (BOE, Washington National) begin to arrive. Founder Richard Branson told Bloomberg news in an interview that the carrier is looking to phase out its last two A340-300s by February of next year with its last five B747-400s based at Heathrow to leave between next September and July 2016. Two A340-600s will also be retired at the beginning of 2015, no decision has yet been made about its London Gatwick based fleet of seven B747-400s in leisure configuration.
With the resulting loss in capacity, Branson added that Virgin is considering firming up options for an additional five B787-9s with the stretched B787-10 also a possibility.
