Speaking on Tuesday (7 June) ahead of the carrier’s celebration flight marking its new Heathrow-Austin service, Haslett said the sales scheme will go live in September and claimed it would the first of its kind offered by an airline. 

"We don’t believe a scheme like it has been done before by another airline and it’s something we’ve been working on and teasing for a while,” he said. “Agents are so important to us and they account for a little over half our sales. We’ve been overwhelmed by the trade’s support and the strength of those partnerships are reaping rewards on both sides - that will continue."

Agents will also be given the chance to experience Virgin Atlantic’s new A330-900neos during a trade showcase event in July, with 14 of the aircraft due to join the carrier’s fleet. 

Meanwhile, assessing current challenges facing aviation and wider travel sector, Haslett called on airlines and tour operators to work together to address delay and cancellation issues, describing how “the recent negative press isn’t good for anyone”.

“I can see and sense frustration in the industry but now we need to work together to make sure we can all deliver the best possible customer experience across the board for our industry as we head into summer,” he urged.

Haslett said he believed Virgin Atlantic had “done a good job” preparing itself and upping staffing levels to cope with the surge in passenger demand, adding how the carrier was currently “inundated” by staff applications. 

Following its 2020 restructure, Haslett explained how the airline had utilised a “holding pool” of staff, allowing the carrier to bring back more than 1,000 crew and pilots – reducing the need to process new airside passes or invest heavily in recruitment and training for new employees. 

Since start of 2022, Virgin Atlantic had also welcomed 400 new crew and 30 new pilots from more than 5,000 applicants, he claimed.

“The Virgin brand is as strong as ever. We always knew that as demand increased we’d have to ensure that things worked as smoothly as possible for our operational staff and - although Covid has spiked in certain places and we’ve had some challenges – we’ve not cancelled anywhere near the same extent of flights as some of our competitors.

“During the Easter travel window, we had phenomenal passenger volumes and we carried as many customers as we did in January and February combined but we achieved a 99.6% completion factor. We’ve been able to come through Easter and May half-term well.”