Sir Richard Branson is calling it quits on Little Red, Virgin Atlantic’s short-haul subsidiary after just 18 months in operation with flights to stop completely in 2015.
The airline, part-owned by Delta Air Lines, will stop operating flights between London Heathrow and Manchester, Edinburgh and Aberdeen next year after Sir Richard announced this week that Little Red would be folding. It was only in March 2013 that the domestic airline kicked off, when Virgin gained control of domestic slots at Heathrow.
Little Red was meant to act as a feeder airline for trans-atlantic routes but despite its good intentions, passengers were just using the service for point-to-point travel, instead of connecting onto longer and more expensive services.
Virgin Atlantic confirmed that its Little Red flights between London and Manchester will stop in March next year, while flights between London and Scotland would stop in September.