Virgin Atlantic (VS, London Heathrow) has delayed the service entry of its A330-900N, with the type's first scheduled flight - between London Heathrow to Boston -pushed back from October 12 to October 27. Virgin Atlantic has 16 of the A330neos on order, however, the first of the type - G-VJAZ (msn 2018) - is still to deliver.

In July, Virgin Atlantic said it expected three A330neos to be delivered in the last quarter of 2022, with deliveries of the remaining planes timetabled through to 2026. In addition to the Airbus order, the airline plans to add at least seven A330neo from lessors, including at least six from Air Lease Corporation. An airline spokesperson has confirmed to ch-aviation that the delayed arrival of the first A330neo is behind the Boston flight delay.

According to the ch-aviation schedules module, Virgin Atlantic plans to deploy the A330neo onto five London Heathrow-US routes over the IATA 22/23 summer. In addition to Boston, the aircraft type is due to take on flights to Tampa Int'l from November 2; Miami Int'l from November 13; New York JFK from March 6; and Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson from March 21.

Virgin also operates ten A330-300s - which average 11 years of age - alongside nine A350-1000s and seventeen B787-9s, the ch-aviation fleets advanced module shows.