In-flight entertainment on Virgin
Written by Vacation Idea.com Travel Editors.
Virgin Atlantic operates wide-bodied aircraft that offer individual TV screens and a choice of channels to passengers in all classes of service. Currently, the Virgin's aircraft are outfitted with four different systems. The newest, V-Port, offers Video on Demand and will soon let you send & receive e-mails and surf the intranet.
Some of Virgin’s 747-400 and A340 aircraft are equipped with Virgin Arcadia, an interactive entertainment system by Rockwell Collins of California, USA. Virgin Arcadia offers 14 video channels and 9 CD audio channels, including:
- 6 movie channels
- 2 kids channels
- 6 TV channels
- 9 audio channels ranging from soul to Classical music
- 10 Nintendo Games
- Moving Skymap with the aircraft's flight path
- Bulkhead telephones
All new 747-400 and A340 aircraft delivered since 1997 offer the Odyssey system with 20 channels and other entertainment features, including:
- 10 movie channels
- 2 kids channels (featuring a combination of movies and tv programming)
- 8 TV channels featuring music, sport & news, comedy and kids programming plus the exclusive Virgin Travel guide
- 14 audio channels ranging from soul to Classical music
- A choice of 35 Nintendo Games
- Moving Skymap display which plots the aircraft's flight path
- In-seat telephones (located on the reverse of the handset)
Five 747-400 aircraft placed in service during the summer of 2001 offer the Virgin Nova in-flight entertainment system supplied by Thales. Nova has 8 channels of entertainment, including:
- 5 movie channels
- 2 kids channels (featuring a combination of movies and tv programming)
- 1 TV channel which works on a cycle basis showing a selection of our current TV programming
- 14 audio channels ranging from soul music to Classical
- Moving skymap display which plots the aircraft's flight path
- Bulkhead Telephone
V-Port is the newest in-flight entertainment system aboard Virgin Atlantic, included onboard G-VWOW and the new A340-600s as they enter the fleet. V-Port's best feature is Video on Demand which allows you to start, pause or rewind your movie, TV show or CD. V-Port offers:
- 300 hours of Video on content.
- 14 channels of Audio on Demand and a jukebox with over 45 CDs ranging from Chopin to Elvis Presley to PJ Harvey.
- A selection of audio books.
- 15 computer games, of which 3 are multi-player and one, Battlemail Kung-fu, has been developed exclusively for Virgin
- A Quick Find facility that allows passengers to look for films starring their favourite movie star, comedy shows or language programming.
- A dedicated Kid’s Zone that has it’s own menus and contains programming suitable for children and a parental block.
- Later this year the system will allow passengers to send and receive e-mails and surf the intranet.
- Air to ground SMS text messaging to mobile phones and e-mail addresses.
