Virgin Charter announced that its online marketplace, the end-to-end solution for private air travel, is now open.  Virgin Charter, the "smarter way to charter," makes it easier than ever to find and book charter flights on private aircraft from operators hand-picked for their exceptional safety and quality standards. 

The launch marks the conclusion of the closed beta period during which an exclusive group of corporate and individual buyers utilized the marketplace. Virgin Charter's marketplace is free to join and offers clients immediate access to its technology.

"Virgin Charter has brought tremendous innovation to the charter market," said Sir Richard Branson.  "Virgin's brilliant customer service and aviation expertise combined with unprecedented technology prowess has resulted in a winning formula."

"Until now, booking on-demand charter has been a cumbersome process and flyers didn't always know what they were getting," said Scott Duffy, CEO, Virgin Charter. "We are bringing the power of Virgin to the industry and are now offering an entirely new way to book charter over the internet while setting new quality standards."

Virgin Charter also announced that Travelocity Business(R) is the exclusive launch business travel agency for Virgin Charter in the Travel Management Company space.  Virgin Charter will provide charter solutions for Travelocity Business clients who want to fly private. 

"Virgin Charter is a natural fit in our suite of corporate VIP and Meetings services," said Lesley Harris, president of Travelocity Business. "The notion of bringing the power of automation and online simplicity to a historically manual process like private aviation mirrors our approach to everyday account management. We look forward to working with Virgin Charter in the managed travel arena."