Pay for thousands of Virgin Atlantic Airlines crew has taken off after constructive negotiations between Unite and Virgin delivered a pay deal worth more than double the current rate of inflation for thousands of cabin crew and significantly above inflation for on-board managers.

The pay deal implemented from October 2016 means cabin crew will a get 6.65 per cent increase and flight service managers and cabin service supervisors will get a 4.45 per cent increase.

This is then followed by a three per cent increase or RPI + 0.5 per cent (whichever is greater) from December 2017. 

The deal also includes an average 18 per cent increase across all ranks on flight pay for Virgin crew.

Unite has launched a revolutionary online tool for the union’s negotiators which allows them to access a database of pay deals covering over 32,000 workplaces across Britain.

It is the first time the trade union movement has developed such a comprehensive database of pay deals in order to drive forward a coordinated pay strategy and help protect workers’ pay packets from the potential impact of Brexit and inflation.

Unite general secretary Len McCluskey said: “This is a first class pay deal for a first class crew.

“I am very pleased that Virgin has worked with Unite to ensure the crew’s contribution to the success of the airline has been recognised.

“The negotiations were long and sometimes hard but they were constructive and fair.

“With the looming threat of inflation and an uncertain economy following Brexit, this pay deal spanning two and a half years will be a big help to the Virgin crew.”

Consumer inflation as measured by the Retail Prices Index rose to 2.5 per cent in December from 2.2 per cent the previous month.

The pay deals applies to a crew of about 4,000.