The project will involve interviews with passengers and crew and a post-flight survey of 1,000 travellers, while selected passengers on long-haul flights to Nigeria, China, Japan and India will be asked to keep diaries of their in-flight experience.

Intersperience chief executive Paul Hudson said: “We are delighted to be working with a brand as dynamic as Virgin on such a unique project. The diverse backgrounds of our international team mean that they have an inherent understanding of their native cultural nuances guaranteeing accurate interpretation of research, adding tremendous value.”