New uniforms drop hints about Virgin Blue's renaming plans

A further clue to Virgin Blue's plans to revamp its name, service and brand has emerged today, with leaked information about stylish new uniforms for on-board crew suggesting that the airline is aimed firmly upmarket.

The new unifoms are remarkably reminiscent of Virgin Atlantic's chic and classy style, with knee-length red jackets and skirts (or grey pants) with white blouses for women, and a black jacket and vest for men over grey pants. 

FlightGlobal's Will Horton writes: "The new uniform gives no hint of the carrier's new name. Crew name tags still list the old airline names, but reportedly feel cheaply made--almost as if they will be replaced very soon."

Purple will play an accenting part in the new look -- women get a violet and white scarf, while men will be sporting "shimmering purple and indigo ties", according to FlightGlobal's Horton -- and that sounds very much like Virgin Atlantic's current outfits.

Virgin Atlantic's crew are renowned for the elegant yet chic uniforms they wear -- usually inside the plane, and not on the wing, of course.

Sister airline Virgin Atlantic uses purple as well, although a recent repaint of the British airline's fleet has removed some of the purple to focus on its signature red.

Australian frequent flyers are keeping their eyes peeled for clues to the decisions that Virgin Blue Group CEO John Borghetti has made about the future of the airline and subsidiaries V Australia, Pacific Blue and Polynesian Blue.

Virgin Blue is expecting its first A330 aircraft in May. These completely overhauled ex-Emirates planes, with all-new business class seating, will largely serve the east coast to Perth markets.

Their arrival has Qantas running scared, leading to last week's announcement that international-calibre aircraft with proper business class seating would be added to the Perth routes, and that the much-criticised middle seat in domestic business class on Qantas A330s would be removed.

There's been no news yet about the new aircraft's paint job, but Virgin Atlantic's own factory-fresh A330s are certainly looking sleek and classy -- take a look at the new aircraft in the photo at the page.

We're sure that business travellers keen to get an eyeful of the beautiful people will hope that Virgin Blue -- or whatever the rebranded airline is called -- follows in its elder sister's elegant footsteps.

Virgin Atlantic's crew was, of course, recently voted as the world's sexiest -- due in no small part to the ads emphasising their many attributes across the years, including the most recent, to Muse's cover of Nina Simone's "Feeling Good". 

John Walton

Aviation journalist and travel columnist John took his first long-haul flight when he was eight weeks old and hasn't looked back since. Well, except when facing rearwards in business class.