Virgin atlantic: The airline that Sir Richard Branson built is 30

Travel by numbers

Virgin territory: The airline flies to six Caribbean islands (Getty)

0: Amount of champagne remaining when Virgin Atlantic's maiden flight, from Gatwick to Newark, made landfall in North America on 22 June, 1984.

1: Number of free economy tickets for future flights provided to Upper Class passengers; this "buy one, get one free" policy lasted for several years.

1.14: YouTube views, in millions, of the November 1997 emergency landing of a Virgin Atlantic Airbus A340 at Heathrow. At the end of a flight from Los Angeles, the landing gear failed to extend properly. All passengers and crew survived. You can watch the touchdown here: bit.ly/SafeLanding.

2: Terminal at Heathrow to be served by Virgin's domestic airline offshoot, Little Red, from 10 September; until then, it's dismal old Terminal 1. International services depart from Terminal 3, except for some code-share flights operated by Delta from Terminal 4.

2: Number of airports served by Virgin Atlantic in London (Heathrow and Gatwick), New York (Newark and JFK), California (Los Angeles and San Francisco), Canada (Toronto and Vancouver, the latter summer-only), and India (Mumbai and Delhi).

3: UK destinations currently served from Heathrow: Manchester, Edinburgh and Aberdeen.

3: Percentage of slots at Heathrow owned by Virgin Atlantic; British Airways has 53 per cent.

3: UK airports offering Virgin flights to Orlando in Florida: Gatwick, Glasgow and Manchester.

4: European destinations served by Virgin Atlantic over the years: Dublin, Maastricht, Athens and Moscow.

6: Caribbean islands served from Gatwick: Antigua, Barbados, Cuba, Grenada, Jamaica and St Lucia.

8: Number of seats in the original Upper Class in the 747's "bubble".

40: Aircraft in Virgin's fleet. The oldest is a 20-year-old Jumbo jet named Lady Penelope. The fleet is being refreshed, with new Airbus A330 aircraft and, from later this year, the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

44: Flight number of Las Vegas-Gatwick service, which began in 2000.

50: Films offered on demand aboard Virgin's A330, A340 and 747 aircraft.

78: Length, in inches, of lie-flat bed in today's Upper Class.

88: Lowest fare, in dollars, charged by Virgin for a New York-London flight; it applied in 1988 for standby trips.

1992: Year when Mid Class began as a separate cabin between Upper Class and Economy; now Premium Economy.

5,978: Distance in miles to Virgin's furthest destination, Hong Kong (Tokyo is just 40 miles closer).

600,000,000: Pounds paid by Singapore Airlines for 49-per-cent slice of Virgin Atlantic in 1999; sold in 2012 to the US airline, Delta, for £224m.