Virgin Atlantic has said that it is reinstating its full portfolio of US destinations for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic, as travel bookings rise 50 percent year on year.
Starting from April, Virgin Atlantic will add frequencies and reintroduce services to key US gateways. Flights to Seattle and Washington DC will take off next week, with services to New York, San Francisco and Atlanta also increasing. In April, a third daily service to Los Angeles will commence, serving the Californian city more than any other airline.
Virgin Atlantic will operate Orlando flights from its four UK gateways of Heathrow, Manchester, Edinburgh and Belfast, resulting in more flights from the UK to the theme park capital of the world than any other carrier. Seattle flights will depart five times weekly from London Heathrow on the March 2. The airline will operate its 787-9, with its on-board bar.
From March 5, London Heathrow to Washington DC services will operate five times a week on an Airbus A330, re-establishing links for both business and leisure travellers alike. Last month, Virgin Atlantic announced its first new US route since 2015, to Austin, Texas which will operate four times weekly from 25 May.
Juha Jarvinen, Chief Commercial Officer at Virgin Atlantic, commented, ‘Following the relaxation of travel restrictions, we’ve seen demand increase to many of our global destinations, but particularly to our heartland in the USA. Our customers can’t wait to return.
‘The restart of our Seattle and Washington DC services mark an important milestone, as we move into recovery and welcome our customers back on board to all the destinations they’ve missed. We’re simply not Virgin without the Atlantic and our growing transatlantic portfolio demonstrates why we’re the airline of choice to the USA.’
Virgin Atlantic has extended its policy of unlimited free date and flight changes for new bookings, giving further flexibility to customers to support future travel plans. The updated flexible booking policy enables Virgin Atlantic customers making a new holiday or flight-only booking for travel up to December 31, 2022, to make as many changes as necessary to their travel dates, origin or destination, with the change fees waived, as well as one free name change.
