Virgin Atlantic has announced its transatlantic expansion with a new direct route from London Heathrow to Tampa, launching on November 3, 2022.
The new year-round Florida service will initially fly four times a week before increasing to daily from November 28. This latest addition follows the airline’s launch of direct flights between London and Austin, Texas in May 2022.
Tampa is known for its rich history and culture as well as being the home of the Superbowl winners, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and ice hockey legends, Tampa Bay Lightning. With year-round beautiful weather and stunning Gulf Coast beaches, Tampa is a perfect gateway to Florida’s top attractions with the popular theme parks of Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando and Busch Gardens all within easy reach.
Juha Jarvinen, Chief Commercial Officer at Virgin Atlantic, commented: ‘We are delighted to continue our expansion in the US with this new daily service to Tampa, Florida offering even more choice for customers on both sides of the Atlantic to connect between the US and the UK.
‘Florida is very much a firm favourite for our customers ever since our first flight to Miami back in 1986. With the popular theme parks and the stunning beaches of St Pete and Clearwater within easy reach, we know it’s an area our customers will love to explore.’
‘The region has a booming economy with high profile businesses moving to the area and many budding entrepreneurs registering start-ups in the city. We very much look forward to forging new relationships within the Tampa Bay community and cannot wait to welcome customers, both existing and new onboard, flying them safely to explore this exciting region.’
Joe Lopano, Chief Executive Officer at Tampa International Airport commented: ‘We at Tampa International Airport are thrilled to offer our first-ever nonstop route to Heathrow and launch this new partnership with Virgin Atlantic. Not only does this create another Tampa-London option for our leisure travellers, but there’s a huge upside for our thriving business community to now have a direct connection to the world’s premier business airport. We expect this to be a popular route during what we know will be a very busy winter travel season at TPA.’
Offering more than 190,000 seats each year, Virgin Atlantic will be the only airline to directly connect the Tampa Bay region with London’s hub airport, London Heathrow.
Flights are on sale from Wednesday July 13th at www.virginatlantic.com with return Economy fares starting from £436 per person, Premium from £937 per person and Upper Class from £2,256 per person.
