The new service was launched in 2013 with owner Sir Richard Branson stating his intent to compete with BA domestically with "Virgin's rock and roll spirit" and to allow Virgin Atlantic's long haul passengers to connect to the rest of the UK using Virgin. The airline brand made its first flight on 31 March 2013, flying from Manchester to Heathrow. Virgin announced that initially the airline would operate four daily flights between London Heathrow Airport and Manchester Airport, six daily flights between Heathrow and Edinburgh Airport, and three daily flights between Heathrow and Aberdeen Airport. The cabin crew would wear Virgin Little Red uniforms and had training from Virgin, despite the fact that airline had not recently operated narrow-body aircraft. The pilots would be employed by Aer Lingus, with cabin crew supplied by McGinley Aviation. Little Red was later revealed to be operated on a wet-lease by Aer Lingus whereby the planes would be operated by Aer Lingus but would bear Virgin Atlantic livery. Virgin announced that they would set up Virgin Atlantic Little Red as a subsidiary to use these slots to cover domestic UK mainland routes as Aer Lingus already provided competition for BA on flights to Northern Ireland from Heathrow. 12 of these slots were set aside for domestic usage, which were bought by Virgin Atlantic after they outbid Aer Lingus for the required British domestic operating licence. In order for the deal to be completed, the European Union Competition Commissioner decreed that BA would have to give up 14 of BMI's landing slots at Heathrow to comply with EU competition regulations.
In 2012, British Airways took over British Midland International (BMI) which gave them a monopoly on UK mainland flights from Heathrow.
History Foundation and start of operations The airline ceased operations in 2015 following low passenger numbers. During its operation, the airline operated four Airbus A320s wet leased from Irish airline Aer Lingus and served a network of four domestic destinations. It was created in 2012 as a way to provide competition for aviation giant British Airways (BA) on UK domestic mainland flights to Aberdeen, Edinburgh, and Manchester from London Heathrow Airport. Virgin Atlantic Little Red (also referred to as Virgin Little Red and Little Red) was a short-lived British airline subsidiary owned by Virgin Atlantic.
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