about us

Virgin has been synonymous with hot air ballooning since entrepreneur and adventurer Sir Richard Branson became the first to fly a balloon across the Atlantic in 1987.

That year Virgin Airship & Balloon Company was formed to harness the power of balloon advertising for Virgin and other major brands. In 1991 Sir Richard smashed all records again by crossing the Pacific at speeds of up to 245mph.

In 1994 Virgin Balloon Flights Ltd was launched to make the romance and adventure of balloon rides more accessible to the people in the UK. In 2002 Virgin handed the torch to its highly-experienced chief pilot at the time Kenneth Karlstrom to take the brand forward with his own company.

Since then we have grown from flying around 10,000 people a year to over 30,000 making us the largest balloon rides business in the world.

Why fly with us?

• We have the largest fleet of balloons of any balloon rides company in the UK including the largest passenger carrying balloon in the UK
   
• We have 100+ launch sites across England, Scotland and Wales
   
• We schedule more flights and fly more people each year than any other company
   
• All customer enquiries are handled by our customer contact centre in Shropshire
   
• We have a Civil Aviation Authority Air Operators Certificate to fly fee paying passengers
   
• We are affiliated with the CAA (Civil Aviation Authority), BBAC (British Balloon & Airship Club) and BABO (British Association of Balloon Operators)
   
• All our pilots have full UK Commercial Balloon Pilot's Licences and many years of experience
   

Legal stuff

Virgin Balloon Flights is a trading name of AirXcite Ltd. Registered in England No. 03487563 at Jesson House, Stafford Court, Telford TF3 3BD UK. VAT No. GB 710 3092 85.

Virgin and the Virgin Signature logo are registered trademarks of Virgin Enterprises Ltd and are used under licence.