Virgin Atlantic (VS, London Heathrow) ended A340-600 operations on March 8, 2020, as the quadjets have proven surplus to demand during the current COVID-19-induced slump.
Flightradar24 ADS-B data indicates that G-VFIT (msn 753) operated its last revenue flight on March 8 as VS412 from Lagos to London Heathrow and was ferried to London Gatwick the day after. G-VWIN (msn 756) departed from Bridgetown on March 7 as VS58 and landed at Gatwick the next morning. Both aircraft have remained parked at the airport since March 8-9.
The airline did not respond to ch-aviation's request for comment regarding the permanence of their grounding.
In early March, Virgin Atlantic announced that the retirement of the quadjets would be one of the measures taken in response to the epidemic.
The UK carrier had initially planned to phase out its A340s at the end of the Summer 2019 season in October 2019. However, it later adjusted that plan due to ongoing Rolls-Royce Trent engine issues affecting its B787-9s. While no specific date was then given, Virgin Atlantic said it would continue operating the A340s "through 2020".
Following the retirement of the A340s, Virgin Atlantic's fleet includes two A330-200s, eight A330-300s, five A350-1000s, seven B747-400s, and seventeen B787-9s.
Virgin's A340s might not be the only quadjets falling prey to the epidemic as Lufthansa (LH, Frankfurt International) is evaluating temporarily grounding all fourteen A380-800s it operates.
