Virgin Atlantic hauls in 100 new jobs

Huddersfield Daily Examiner (Huddersfield, England), June 10, 2008

Byline: HENRYK ZIENTEK

VIRGIN Atlantic is to create 100 new jobs by increasing services between London and Hong Kong, it was announced today.

The airline shrugged off the economic gloom surrounding the industry by unveiling moves to double the number of flights between Heathrow and Hong Kong to twice a day.

Virgin Atlantic said the expansion will create 100 new cabin crew jobs from later this year.

Steve Ridgeway, chief executive of Virgin Atlantic, said: "This second daily service will offer our passengers even more opportunities via Hong Kong which is the third busiest long haul route out of Heathrow after New York's JFK and Dubai."

The company said it had carried more than 2m passengers between London and Hong Kong since it started flying the route in 1994.

Virgin Atlantic was launched in 1984 by tycoon Richard Branson and by the end of that decade had flown more than 1m passengers.

More money was invested in the airline following the sale of VirginMusic in 1992.

In 1999, Singapore Airlines took a 49% stake in the company, valuing the business at pounds 1.225bn.