Virgin Atlantic's Little Red Planned Live Comedy and Music on Board
In August 2013, Virgin Atlantic's new UK domestic airline, Little Red, decided to shake up in-flight entertainment: instead of just seatback screens, it would put live comedians and musicians in the aisle. The program was called Little Red LIVE.
What was the plan?
On select flights from London to Edinburgh and Manchester, passengers would get surprise live performances. Throughout August, comedians en route to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival — which ran until August 26 — would test their material on a captive audience. (Comics Lee Nelson and Joe Lycett were among those named for ten-minute sets in late August.) In September, acoustic music acts from Scotland and Manchester were to take over.
Richard Branson said: "In true Virgin Atlantic spirit, we're doing something a little different and providing our passengers with a line-up of gigs to ensure we offer a truly unforgettable flying experience on Little Red."
The catch: the airline would announce the acts on Facebook and Twitter, but the flights they appeared on stayed secret — one surprise you couldn't avoid at 30,000 feet.
Why was Little Red experimenting?
Little Red had launched just months earlier, on March 31, 2013, with 12 daily domestic services from Heathrow to Manchester, Edinburgh, and Aberdeen. Virgin wanted to differentiate its domestic flying, and in-flight innovation was on-brand: the year before, Virgin Atlantic had become the first British airline to offer mobile calls and texts in the air.
What happened to Little Red?
The experiment didn't save the airline. Struggling with low passenger numbers and British Airways' dominance of the domestic market, Virgin announced in October 2014 that Little Red would close. Flights to Manchester ended in March 2015; the last flights to Edinburgh and Aberdeen departed on September 26, 2015. Little Red's comedy gigs remain a fun footnote in aviation history.
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