Virgin Atlantic first started its journey in 1984. The company is the brainchild of Richard Branson. Virgin Atlantic abides by its slogan ‘We don’t do anything ordinary.’ that reflects the airline’s promise. The first flight took off from London Gatwick to Newark, and after that, Virgin Atlantic took off the journey to become the most loved flight for the people.
Now Virgin Atlantic has become one of the best flights covering 30 destinations around the world. This leading airline transports over 5 million passengers from the UK to Asia, America, Africa, and Australia. The flight has non-stop transatlantic routes involving Los Angeles, New York, Delhi, Hong Kong, and Johannesburg. In addition, after the joint venture with Air France, Delta and KLM, the flight is now accessible to around 350 cities around the globe.
Today Virgin Atlantic mission and vision is to become the world’s most loved and distinctive airline. The company’s mission statement talks about both profitability and people. Virgin Atlantic focuses on three core aspects: inclusivity of different cultures, activism, and a challenger spirit of combating tough times and emerging as the winner.
Virgin Atlantic strives to fulfill the demands of their customer and make their journey smooth and comfortable. The company also focuses on reducing its carbon footprint, thus reducing the adverse impact on the environment. Also, the airline focus to set and maintain its standards to ensure the best experience for its flyers.
The Virgin Atlantic core values focus on the human spirit and the philosophy of inclusiveness, optimism, and adventurous spirit. Abiding by these values, the company strive to provide their customer with memorable experiences.
Virgin Atlantic mission statement is “To grow a profitable airline, that people love to fly and where people love to work.” The main philosophies that form Virgin Atlantic mission statement are:
Grow the business into a profit-bearing airline – Before starting Virgin Atlantic, Richard Branson tried his hand at many ventures from music to media and finance to retail. Many of his ventures, did not do well. So, the mission of Virgin Atlantic to be a profitable airline is quite significant. As per Statista figures, the company earned the highest net profit in 2016 i.e. 180.9 million British pounds. Despite suffering losses during the pandemic, Virgin Atlantic announced its plans to shape its future resizing, cost-cutting, and other strategies to become profitable once again. It plans to achieve this by the year 2022.
To be an airline people love to fly with – The company aims to offer the best flying experience to its passengers. Also, through low-airfares, the company aspires people to choose it over the competitors. Also, the company tries to build stronger communication that is visible through its campaign.
Become a company where the people love to work – As per Richard Brandson, the people are the company’s biggest asset. As per him, there are people at Virgin Atlantic who set this airline apart from others. At the same time, Virgin Atlantic wants to create a favorable workplace for the employees. To ensure this; it focuses on diversity and removing gender disparity. Virgin Atlantic also aims at the mental health of the people.
Virgin Atlantic vision statement
Virgin Atlantic vision statement is “To be the most loved travel company.” For doing this, the company takes inspiration from the leading customer experience program. In addition, the company also set new challenges for themselves to redefine their customer’s experience, which helps them attract and sustain new talent in their working sector. They aim to motivate a vibrant environment where people love to work and feel supported and listened to. To ensure a good work environment, Virgin Atlantic also focuses on the mental health of their employees and helping and supporting them in case they need assistance. To make Virgin Atlantic a better place to work and the best airline to travel, they focus on areas like:
Being inclusive and diversified: The company strives to maintain the balance by treating both men and women as equals. Moreover, the airline believes in inclusive philosophy where everyone is treated alike irrespective of their cultural and ethnic background. The gender gap is heavily influenced by the demographics of the workgroup like engineers, pilots, and cabin crew.
Being themselves: The company also encourages their employees to be themselves no matter their beliefs, backgrounds, gender, and skin color. It also does not depend on who they choose to love or their physical ability.
Doing their best to live better: The company understands that people can give their best only when they feel their best. So, the airline takes a holistic approach to maintain their wellbeing. Thus they invest in their mental, physical, and financial wellbeing.
One of the key visions of the company is to ensure environmental sustainability, and this vision is not merely limited to reducing carbon footprint but also working on having more advanced flights which are more efficient and consume lesser energy and produce lesser noise. The company also actively invests in charity, as it partnered with WE Charity to establish solar-powered schools, family homes, and greenhouses.
Virgin Atlantic core values
The value of the company has played an important role in ensuring the sustainable performance of Virgin Atlantic throughout the year. Its core values are to keep their customer and other related people safe and secure at all costs. This involves living their days by thinking red, making friends, and being amazing:
Think red: When the airline company thinks red, it means sticking to the true spirit of Virgin Atlantic, i.e., passion, innovation, and positivity. It encourages its people to go the extra mile to meet every expectation of its customers. Rather than pushing their boundary, Virgin Atlantic’s philosophy is to break through them. This indicates how passionate the company is to go out of its comfort zone and face challenges head-on. Also, the company wants its people to be optimistic and positive.
Make Friends: The company loves people. Thus, it always tries to make its workforce and customers feel special. Moreover, Virgin Atlantic always embrace their team members, partners, and customers. They connect the dots of team members keeping in mind the needs of their customers. Also, the company sticks to its commitments to build a sense of trust.
Be amazing: Virgin Atlantic gives importance to the small gesture equally as the grand gesture. Thus, they act with the greater good keeping the business in mind. The company understands the importance of its customers. So, they focus on creating the best result, keep their quality high, and embrace new technologies.
Conclusion
To sum up, inclusivity, activism, and challenger spirit define Virgin Atlantic. It also focuses on becoming a profitable airline while reducing its carbon footprint. Over the years, Virgin Atlantic has faced challenges in its stride to keep its people and customers happy.
