The themed 747 will now transport you from London Gatwick Airport to Orlando, Florida, where you’ll be able to experience Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, at Walt Disney World® Resort.

The aircraft, which will be known as “The Falcon” – showcases the iconic Millennium Falcon – the famous spaceship once owned by Han Solo. It forms part of Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Holidays’ celebrations of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, which opened in Orlando in August.

As well as “The Falcon” official plane unveiling, Virgin Holidays has also launched The Ultimate Virgin Holidays Star Wars Experience – a curated themed holiday experience to Walt Disney World® Resort in Florida, which will take off between 15 and 22 February 2020 – giving fans the chance to live their Star Wars adventure, bigger and bolder than ever before.

To celebrate the aircraft entering our flight operations today, Virgin Holidays has also launched a social media competition, encouraging members of the public who spot the plane to capture and share images, for the chance to win two seats onboard The Ultimate Virgin Holidays Star Wars Experience.

The competition is simple – anyone who spots the Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge aircraft can snap and share an image on their personal Instagram account, tagging both Virgin Holidays and Virgin Atlantic, and including #TheFalcon in the photo caption. All entries received by Wednesday 9 October will be entered into a prize draw.

The highly-anticipated land, which is located at Disney’s Hollywood Studios® Theme Park, is set on Black Spire Outpost on the planet Batuu, located at the outer rim of the galaxy. Once there, Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Holidays’ guests will be able to experience all-new Star Wars attractions and enjoy immersive entertainment, rubbing shoulders with smugglers, rogue traders and adventurers – all the while avoiding the ever-expanding reach of the First Order.

Joe Thompson, managing director of Virgin Holidays, said:  “We are incredibly proud to see ‘The Falcon’ take flight, featuring the iconic Millennium Falcon from the much-loved Star Wars saga, as it wings passengers to experience the thrilling, new Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge land at Walt Disney World® Resort in Florida.

“Over the last three decades, we have taken millions of British holiday-makers to enjoy the magic of Disney and we know that so many of our customers have been excited about planning their trip to experience this new land. We hope those lucky enough to board ‘The Falcon’ will enjoy their journey with us, even more.”

“It was a very exciting brief to be able to redesign our aircraft livery to represent something as iconic as the Millenium Falcon and it’s not something that you get to do everyday,” said our senior engineer, Dave Napper. “We have many Star Wars fans within the company who jumped at the chance to get involved in some way, and we cannot wait to see ‘The Falcon’ take flight.”

Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge – Virgin Atlantic plane wrap facts

• The film used to wrap the aircraft could cover four tennis courts, including Centre Court at Wimbledon!
• The decal is 44 metres long from end to end
• The decal took three weeks to print, using 14,000 milimetres of ink

Terms and conditions

By participating in the Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge “The Falcon” Competition (the “Competition”), it is deemed that you accept and agree to be bound by these terms and conditions:

To enter this Competition, you must:

• be 18 years of age;
• be a UK resident;
• have a valid, public Instagram account;
• have uploaded to Instagram your photo of ‘The Falcon’ plane in the sky; used the official hashtag in the caption which is “#The Falcon”; and tagged both Virgin Holidays (@Virginholidays) and Virgin Atlantic (@Virginatlantic).

1. No purchase necessary to enter however, entrants must pay their own costs for connecting to the Internet.
2. This Competition is not open to employees of Virgin Atlantic, Virgin Holidays, their families, their agencies or any companies directly connected with the creation and administration of this Competition.
3. Competition Period: This Competition is open from 08:00 GMT on Wednesday 25 September 2019 until 23:59 GMT on Wednesday 09 October 2019.
4. Only one entry will be accepted per person throughout the Competition Period.
5. Prize: There is one (1) prize available comprising of one (1) pair of tickets for the ‘The Ultimate Virgin Holidays Star Wars Experience’ which includes (but is not limited to) one (1) pair of Virgin Atlantic Economy return tickets from London Gatwick, together with seven (7) nights’ accommodation at a Walt Disney World Resort in Florida. Further details can be found at https://www.virginholidays.co.uk/the-ultimate-star-wars-experience
6. Bulk entries made from trade, consumer groups or third parties will not be accepted. Incomplete or illegible entries, by or via third parties or syndicates, entries by macros or other automated means (including systems which can be programmed to enter), and entries which do not satisfy the requirements of these terms and conditions in full will be disqualified and will not be counted. If it becomes apparent that a participant is using a computer(s) to circumvent this condition by, for example, the use of scripts, “brute force‟, masking their identity by manipulating IP addresses, using identities other than their own or any other automated means in order to increase that participant’s entries into the draw in a way that is not consistent with the spirit of the Competition, that person’s entries will be disqualified and any prize awarded will be void.
7. Entries must be submitted by 23:59 on Wednesday 09 October 2019 to be valid and considered.
8. Receipt of entries will not be acknowledged. Virgin Atlantic does not accept any responsibility or liability for lost entries or entries which are delayed, damaged, corrupted, incomplete or not received.
9. All eligible entries shall be entered in to the Competition draw from which one (1) winner (“Winner”) will be selected at random, by independent third party One Green Been, on Thursday 10 October (the “Draw”).
10. You agree that Virgin Atlantic may, but is not required to, make your entry available on its website http://www.virginatlantic.com and any other media, whether now known or invented in the future, and in connection with any publicity of the competition. You agree to grant Virgin Atlantic a non-exclusive, worldwide, irrevocable licence, for the full period of any intellectual property rights in the competition image to use, display, publish, transmit, copy, edit, alter, store, re-format and sub-licence the competition image.
11. Virgin Atlantic’s decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into.
12. The Winner will be notified within 2 days of the Draw via social media using a direct message from the official Virgin Atlantic Instagram page. The Winner will be required to respond to the direct message in order to confirm eligibility plus acceptance of the Prize within 48 hours of initial direct message. If the Winner fails to confirm acceptance within 48 hours, the Prize will be forfeited and another winner will be selected at random from the original entries.
13. Prize confirmation will be sent to the Winner’s via email, once the Winner have provided their contact email address as part of the prize fulfilment process.
14. The Prize is subject to Virgin Holidays booking conditions (virginholidays.co.uk/important/terms-and-conditions).
15. The Prize is only valid for the ‘The Ultimate Virgin Holidays Star Wars Experience’ which departs on 15 February 2020 and returns on 22 February 2020. The Winner and their companion must be available to redeem the Prize during these dates. If the Winner wishes to travel alone, their second ticket will be forfeited.
16. Once the Prize booking has been confirmed no further changes are permitted. If a booking is cancelled no alternative tickets will be issued.
17. Virgin Atlantic flight schedules are subject to change without notice.
18. In the event that any of Virgin Atlantic’s flight programme or operations are altered, suspended, cut-back or cancelled, we are unable to guarantee that any affected Prize flights will be honoured. If Virgin Atlantic are able to transfer the Prize to another airline, travel will be for economy/coach class only, subject to availability. No refund or part refund will be given for any alternation or cancellation of the Prize in these circumstances.
19. Any costs or expenses not expressly included in the Prize pursuant to these Terms and Conditions (including but not limited to) transport to and from the departure and arrival airports, car parking charges, lounge access, meals and refreshments, excess baggage, visas (including ESTAs), passports, excursions, attractions, travel insurance, medical insurance, hotel rooms service, laundry service, merchandise, souvenirs, tips, gratuities, service charges or taxes will be the sole responsibility of the Winner and their travelling companion. The Winner may be required to provide proof of their insurance policy to Virgin Atlantic.
20. Travelling companions below the age of 16 must provide written parental consent to travel unless accompanied by a parent or guardian.
21. The Winner is responsible for the behaviour of them self and their travelling companion whilst taking the Prize. Virgin Atlantic or any prize provider reserves the right in its absolute discretion to exclude a Winner and/or travelling companion from participation in the Prize if any party fails to comply with the directions of Virgin Atlantic or any companies associated with the Prize; or the Winner and/or travelling companion acts in a manner that is dangerous to themselves or to the public or is, in the opinion of Virgin Atlantic, anti-social in any manner or which causes a disturbance or nuisance to others.
22. The Prize is non-transferable to anyone else including another family member of the Winner or any other named person and cannot be sold, bartered or substituted for any other prize. No cash alternative is available.
23. The Prize may not be used in conjunction with any other promotion or promotional fare mounted by Virgin Atlantic or any third party.
24. If for any reason the event is not capable of running as planned, such as cancellation or any other cause beyond the control of Virgin Atlantic which affects the running or conduct of this Competition, Virgin Atlantic may in its sole discretion cancel the Prize and not re-award any additional tickets to the Winner or reimburse any incurred expenses by the Winner as a result of winning or accepting the Prize.
25. Virgin Atlantic must either publish or make available information that indicates that a valid award took place. To comply with this obligation Virgin Atlantic will send the surname and county of the Winner and, if applicable copies of their winning entries, to anyone who writes to Virgin Atlantic at the address below (enclosing a self-addressed envelope) within one month of the Draw. If you object to any or all of your surname, county and winning entry being published or made available, please contact Virgin Atlantic’s press office at press.office@fly.virgin.com. In such circumstances, Virgin Atlantic must still provide the information and winning entry to the Advertising Standards Authority on request.
26. Virgin Atlantic will only process your personal information as set out in the Privacy Policy, which can be found at https://www.virginatlantic.com/gb/en/footer/privacy-policy.html
27. Virgin Atlantic’s decision regarding selection of the Winner and the awarding of the Prize is final and no further correspondence shall be entered in to concerning the matter.
28. Virgin Atlantic reserves the right to withdraw or cancel this Competition at any time, in the event of unforeseen circumstances.
29. The Winner accepts their Prize at his/her own risk. By entering the Competition, each participant and travelling companion agrees to release Virgin Atlantic and Disney from any liability whatsoever for any claims, costs, injuries, losses, or damages of any kind arising out of or in connection with the promotion or with the acceptance, possession, attendance at or use of any Prize (except death or personal injury caused by Virgin Atlantic’s negligence, for fraud, or otherwise as prohibited by law).
30. This Competition is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Instagram. You understand that you are providing your information to Virgin Atlantic and not to Instagram. All entries must comply with the Instagram Terms of Use, the Instagram Code of Conduct and any other relevant Instagram terms or policies in operation from time to time.
31. These Terms & Conditions are subject to English Law and the exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts.

Promoter: Virgin Atlantic Airways Limited, Registered Office: The VHQ, Fleming Way, Crawley, West Sussex RH10 9DF