Virgin Atlantic - 2 films, still red hot

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Casino Royale

The pin-up girl, called the Scarlet Lady, carrying the Union Jack is seen on every Virgin aircraft. 

As mi6-hq.com reported late last year, Virgin Atlantic will once again be flying Bond, this time in SkyFall. I thought it appropriate to look at the airline's previous engagements with the Bond series. Virgin has featured in the last two films. Casino Royale in 2006, marked the change not only from Brosnan as Bond, but also from British Airways as Bond's choice of airline (featured in Die another day).

Virgin's Airbus A340-600 seen in the background

Even though Bond never flies with Virgin in the film, several airplanes and a Virgin Atlantic catering truck can be seen during the action at Miami airport. The airplanes featured in the film are all the biggest and longest in the Virgin fleet. All the scenes were filmed at Prague International airport doubling for Miami, something that becomes obvious when, at one point a plane from Czech airlines (CSA) is seen in the background. This airline does not fly to Miami.

Virgin's Boeing 747-400

Sir Richard Branson, the founder and owner of Virgin even has a cameo in the film. Branson is being searched by a security guard when the terrorist enters the airport, watched by Bond. Since British Airways and Virgin Atlantic have been bitter rivals for many years, both the Virgin airplanes and Sir Richard himself were edited out of the in-flight movies shown on board all British Airways flights. No hard feelings eh?


Quantum of solace
Bond and Mathis are flying to Bolivia in pursuit of Dominic Greene. They are choosing the upper class at Virgin Atlantic, which can be described as other airlines first class sections. The upper class, located on the second floor on the Boeing 747 features a bar and other amenities like seats converting to fully flat beds.
Bond is spending most of his time in the bar during the flight. A flight attendant is behind the bar with a Virgin name tag visible. He is serving Bond with Vespers made from Smirnoff black, Gordon's gin (for the UK market) and Lillet Blanc. The bottles, among others like Bacardi and J&B can be seen in the bar. Bond drinks at least six Vespers instead of sleeping and still manages to look more alert than Mathis upon their arrival in La Paz. It must be the suit...
                             "Six of them..."
                                       -Flight attendant to Mathis-

The logo is visible behind Bond in the cabin but a Virgin airplane is never seen in the film. Quantum qualifies as one of the worst films in the series together with Die another day and Diamonds are forever, due to the poor story, extreme cutting, lack of dialogue and too much action. One can assume that a scene with a Virgin airplane in-flight or seen landing in Bolivia (similar to the scene in Die another day) was filmed but cut from the finished movie, like so many other scenes in the film.

Upper class at the Boeing 747-400

Since Virgin does not fly to any destinations in South America (a factual error made by the filmmakers), it is possible that Bond and Mathis have changed airline in the USA or the Caribbean. But of course in the world of Bond, Virgin flies everywhere.

Virgin Atlantic did a Bond style commercial last year, well worth watching:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Hbib-A6NpW8
and another one celebrating their 25th anniversary, both excellent and funny commercials:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cM4EOeJzHA