Virgin Atlantic limit being expressed upon everything associated with starting up operations. Virgin Atlantic became profitable within the first 12 months, aided by sister company Virgin Records' ability to finance the lease of a secondhand Boeing 747. The firm had timed its operations to take advantage of a full summer, from June to September, which was typically the most profitable period of the year. In November 1984 the airline launched a service between Gatwick Airport and Maastricht Aachen Airport in the Netherlands using a chartered BAC One-Eleven. In 1986 the airline added another Boeing 747 to its fleet and started a scheduled
Wilmington Airport (Delaware) large overhaul base for its overseas planes at the airport until 1957 when the airline moved it to the Kansas City Overhaul Base which became the basis for today's Kansas City International Airport. Delaware's first airline flights were operated by TWA and American Airlines at Wilmington in late 1947. By 1967, Eastern Airlines was operating Douglas DC-9 jet service into the airport with nonstops to New York Newark Airport, Philadelphia Airport, and Washington D.C. National Airport as well as direct flights to Atlanta and Charlotte. In the late 1990s the county leased the debt-stricken airport to the bi-state Delaware River