1.In July 2017, Virgin Atlantic announced their intention to form a joint venture with Air France-KLM. Under the agreement, Air France-KLM will acquire a 31 percent stake in Virgin Atlantic currently held by Virgin Group.

The enhanced joint venture would establish a combined partnership with a duration of at least 15 years. In order to support the success of that cooperation:

Air France-KLM will acquire a 31 percent stake in Virgin Atlantic currently held by Virgin Group for £220 million.

Virgin Group will retain a 20 percent stake and Chairmanship.

2. Virgin produced the first film to be shot at 35,000ft on three commercial flights

In 2012, the romantic comedy Departure Date (starring Ben Feldman and Nicky Whelan) was filmed for eight days straight on flights between LA, London, and Sydney. As per the airline’s regulations, the film crew were only allowed two carry-ons each, and couldn’t film when the seat belt light came on. The cast and crew racked up a total of 28,358 miles, and some of the paying commercial passengers were featured as extras. Watch here.

3. Steve Fossett singlehandedly flew around the world in a Virgin plane 

The Scaled Composites Model 311 Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer (registered N277SF) is an aircraft designed by Burt Rutan in which Steve Fossett flew a solo nonstop airplane flight around the world in 2 days 19 hours and 1 minute (67 hours 1 minute) from February 28 to March 3, 2005. The flight speed of 590.7 kilometres per hour (367.0 mph) set the world record for the fastest nonstop non-refueled circumnavigation, beating the mark set by the previous Rutan-designed Voyager aircraft at 9 days 3 minutes and an average speed of 116 miles per hour (187 km/h).

The aircraft was owned by the pilot Steve Fossett, sponsored by Richard Branson’s airline, Virgin Atlantic, and built by Burt Rutan’s company, Scaled Composites. The two companies subsequently went on to work together on Virgin Galactic.

4. Delta Air Lines owns 49 percent of Virgin Atlantic

Yep. In June 2013, Delta Air Lines bought a 49 percent stake in Virgin Atlantic from Singapore Airlines for $360 million. It might seem like a strange investment, but it’s well worth it for Delta, which now gets to fly its customers more frequently to London’s Heathrow Airport.

5. Virgin Atlantic. Humble with a Touch of Glamour.

Virgin Atlantic is the brainchild of the mildly eclectic CEO, Sir Richard Branson, but did you know it was never his intention to start an airline? Virgin Atlantic was actually born out of a truly magical love story. Sir Richard Branson was on his way from Puerto Rico to meet a beautiful woman in the British Virgin Islands but was unfortunately left stranded along with other passengers. In a momentary act of valour, Richard Branson hired a plane, wrote on a blackboard “Virgin Air, $39 single flight” and the thought of starting Virgin Atlantic was born.

6. Cats and dogs can earn Velocity Frequent Flyer Points when they travel with Virgin Airlines.

Velocity Frequent Flyer, the award-winning loyalty program of Virgin Australia today launched Australia’s first frequent flyer program for pets.

Breaking new ground in the loyalty space, from today, Velocity members can now earn 300 Points each time their dog or cat flies on Virgin Australia’s expansive domestic network. Silver, Gold and Platinum members will also receive a special Points bonus.

Building on the program’s unique family benefits, today’s announcement makes Velocity the only frequent flyer program in Australia to recognize and reward four legged members of the family.

7. Virgin America was the first airline to make foldable boarding passes.

Boarding passes are stupid. They don’t fit in passports, or pockets, or wallets. And by the time you hand over your dog-eared, crumpled document to a clerk behind the check-in desk, you’re bound to get a disapproving sneer.

Well, everyone’s favorite airline Virgin America is finally offering the simple solution in the form of a sexy, fold-friendly boarding pass. The document includes personal details, flight number, departure and arrival time, gate and terminal, along with the cabin and seat allocation. And it fits right into your back pocket, because that makes sense, and it’s ridiculous no airline has done this before.

8. Richard Branson, the founder of Virgin America, owns his very own island.

Richard Branson had been madly trying to come up with a way to impress a girl he had fallen for, so he rang up the realtor, and expressed his interest. they were still in the early days of Virgin Records, and he by no means had the cash to buy an island. Luckily, the realtor didn’t know this and offered me an all-expenses paid trip to see the Islands that weekend. He agreed to go on one condition – if he could bring a guest.

when the realtor quoted the ‘discounted’ asking price of $6 million, Smitten with the unspoilt paradise, and keen to impress his new love, he offered the highest amount he could afford: $100,000. As you can imagine, the realtor was less than impressed, and left us high and dry to find our own way back home.

A year later, a charming man named Derek Dunlop arrived at his houseboat in London and explained that nobody else had made an offer on Necker, and that the owner of the Island was desperate to sell. Virgin Records was in a much better position than it had been a year before, so he quickly agreed to a purchase price of $180,000 – the only condition was that he would need to build a resort on the Island within four years.

9. Virgin Australia has been recognised as the most attractive employer in Australia in 2015 at the annual Randstad Award. It also placed in the top 3 for the last five years, including a top spot in 2011.

Amongst fierce competition, Virgin Australia has been named Australia’s Most Attractive Employer at the annual Randstad Award at Doltone House in Sydney.

With half of all Aussies (50%) claiming they would like to work for the aviation giant, Virgin Australia held off strong competition to edge out two-time winner, the ABC, who came in second place and the Department of Immigration & Border Protection who took out the third spot.

10. Virgin Defunct airlines

• V Australia (Rebrand to Virgin Australia with Virgin Blue & Virgin Polynesia)
• Virgin Nigeria (rebrand to Air Nigeria)
• Virgin Express (rebrand to Brussels Airlines)
• Virgin Express France
• Virgin Sun (sold and merged into Air 2000)
• Virgin Atlantic Little Red
• Virgin Samoa