Virgin Express

Virgin Express
IATA SN	ICAO VEX	Callsign Virgin Express
Founded		1996
Hubs		Brussels Airport
Fleet size		10
Destinations		24
Parent company		SN Airholding
Headquarters		Zaventem (Brussels), Belgium
Key people		Neil Burrows (CEO); Etienne Davignon, chairman
Website: http://www.brusselsairlines.com/

Virgin Express was an airline which was created within the Virgin Group. It operated flights mainly to southern Europe from their hub at Brussels Airport. Ticket sales are mainly through the Internet. The airline has merged with SN Brussels Airlines to form Brussels Airlines which started operations on 25 March 2007 ^[1]

History

Virgin Express started on 23 April 1996, when the Virgin Group (with chairman Richard Branson) bought the Belgian leisure airline EBA (EuroBelgian Airlines) and rebranded it into Virgin Express.^[2] It also took over EBA's fleet of Boeing 737's and has operated this type of aircraft ever since. The airline soon concentrated on low-budget scheduled flights out of its Brussels hub and became a major competitor for Sabena and later SN Brussels Airlines. In October 2004, the Virgin Group sold its assets to SN Brussels Airlines and both airlines were integrated into the parent holding company SN Airholding. On 31 March 2006, SN Brussels Airlines and Virgin Express announced their fusion into a single company, named Brussels Airlines. The combined airline added long haul destinations and strengthened its position in Africa. SN Airholding won the bid to take over the virtually bankrupt Cameroon national airline, Cameroon Airlines. ^{[citation needed]}

A Boeing 737-300 of Virgin Express

Fleet

The Virgin Express fleet consisted of the following aircraft (as of August 2006) ^[3]:

• 5 Boeing 737-300
• 5 Boeing 737-400

Three Boeing 737-300 (OO-VEX, OO-VEG and OO-VEH) were fitted with winglets (March 2007). All the aircraft of Virgin Express have been painted in Brussels Airlines colours.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Virgin Express

• Virgin Express web page at archive.org
• Fleet in 2005 November
• Virgin Express Fleet in 2005 April
• virginbrand.com Unofficial blog of the Virgin Group
• Photos of Virgin Express aircraft

References

1. ^ Airliner World January 2007
2. ^ Company profile virgin-express.com
3. ^ Flight International, 3-9 October 2006

Airlines of Belgium
Abelag Aviation · Brussels Airlines · Cargo B Airlines · European Air Transport · Jetairfly · TNT Airways · Thomas Cook Airlines (Belgium) · VLM Airlines

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