From Laundry to Cabin Cleaning Services: A Decade of Partnership with Virgin Atlantic

OCS and Virgin Atlantic have worked together for around a decade. In 2026, that partnership expanded again when OCS began delivering cabin cleaning services at Heathrow and Manchester, connecting more of the services that sit behind the experience passengers have when they step on board. 

For OCS, the expansion also marked a return to a familiar part of aviation. Aircraft cleaning was where the company’s aviation story began in 1966, and before the pandemic OCS had a significant airside presence supporting international airlines across the UK’s major airports. 

The Virgin Atlantic partnership provided an opportunity to apply that experience through a model designed around the technology, transparency and operational demands of aviation today. 

A Partnership That Has Grown With the Airline

OCS’s existing understanding of Virgin Atlantic and its operation provided the foundation for a more integrated approach. 

The expanded service went live at Heathrow and Manchester on 1 April 2026, bringing together the preparation and laundering of in-flight products, logistics and warehousing, hold loading, security searching, cabin cleaning and dressing. 

It means OCS is responsible for more of the journey those products and services take before an aircraft is ready for its next passengers. 

From Laundry to Cabin Cleaning Services

The scale of the operation behind something as simple as a clean blanket appearing on an aircraft is easy to overlook. OCS’s Central Way operation near Heathrow is a CAA-regulated facility handling around 73 million in-flight items each year, preparing laundry and products before they move through a secure logistics operation and ultimately onto aircraft. 

For Virgin Atlantic, that process now connects directly with the cabin cleaning and appearance service. Hold loading ensures the required quantities of blankets, duvets, headsets and other products are available for the return journey, while above the wing, cabin teams remove used laundry, complete the required security search, clean the aircraft and dress the cabin ready for the passengers who will board next. 

Bringing those services together creates what OCS describes as a closed-loop solution. 

Connecting the services reduces handovers between providers and gives both OCS and Virgin Atlantic greater visibility across the operation. When something changes, there is clearer accountability for the response. 

Inside the Turnaround

That integration matters most when an aircraft is on the ground. Across Virgin Atlantic’s mixed fleet, including Boeing 787s, A330s and A350s, OCS teams can have limited time to prepare the cabin for its next journey. 

Used laundry is removed, security searches completed, the cabin cleaned and dressed, and products put in place for the next passengers, all while maintaining security and presentation standards. 

Late arrivals, stand changes and shifting turnaround times mean teams also need to see what is happening across the operation and respond quickly when plans change. 

Greater Visibility From Arrival to Departure

Technology provides another layer of visibility across the Virgin Atlantic operation. AvTech CabinView supports automated allocation, proof of presence and task completion, giving operational teams a clearer picture of where resource has been deployed and whether required activity has been completed. 

That information becomes particularly useful when the operational picture changes. Rather than relying solely on fixed allocations, teams can respond to live information and make better-informed decisions about where people and resources are needed. 

For Nick, the value of that transparency is closely connected to the closed-loop model. 

Experience Behind the Operation

Bringing cabin appearance into the Virgin Atlantic partnership required OCS to establish the expanded service at Heathrow and Manchester for an April 2026 launch. 

The operation went live at both airports shortly after the contract award, bringing together transferring and newly recruited colleagues along with the specialist vehicles, equipment, management and infrastructure required to support the service. 

For Richard Marshall, Sector Managing Director for Transport at OCS, the significance of the moment became clear when he saw the operation working on the ramp for the first time. 

For Nick Ackroyd, the return was an opportunity to apply OCS’s previous experience to a different model.

The People Behind the Service

For all the technology surrounding the operation, cabin cleaning services remain highly dependent on people. The work inside an aircraft requires trained colleagues to make detailed judgements and meet exacting standards within a limited time. 

During the early stages of the expanded service, senior managers worked alongside frontline teams, giving them direct experience of the intensity of operations that often begin long before most passengers arrive at the airport. 

Technology may help teams plan and respond, but the quality and security of the cabin ultimately depend on the people delivering the work. 

A Relationship That Continues to Evolve

The development of OCS’s relationship with Virgin Atlantic shows what can happen when a partnership grows with the needs of the operation. 

What began with laundry now connects more of the services behind the cabin experience, bringing together people, technology and operational expertise across Heathrow and Manchester. 

For OCS, there is also a fitting connection to its own history. Almost sixty years after aircraft cleaning first took the business into aviation, OCS is back inside aircraft cabins, applying six decades of experience to a very different aviation environment. 

The next chapter of the Virgin Atlantic partnership is already underway. 

Because every journey matters.