Virgin Atlantic announced on Tuesday new flying from Manchester and London Heathrow from October 2020. For the first time, the carrier will offer service from Manchester to India, complementing the existing twice daily LHR-Delhi and daily LHR-Mumbai service.
Today, Virgin Atlantic announced new service from London-Heathrow (LHR) and Manchester from October 2020, including first-ever service from Manchester to Delhi, India. The new service from Manchester to India will complement the carrier’s existing twice-daily service from Heathrow to Delhi and daily service from Heathrow to Mumbai. Virgin Atlantic will now offer more than 600,000 seats between London and India annually. Additionally, the airline recently announced new daily service from LHR to Cape Town, complementing their existing service to Johannesburg. The carrier is also increasing flights between Manchester and Barbados as well as Heathrow and Havana. In Tuesday’s announcement, Virgin Atlantic’s Chief Commercial Officer, Juha Jarvinen said in part,
“2020 is an extremely exciting year of continued growth for Virgin Atlantic and increasing our presence out of Manchester is a huge focus for us. Not only are we the headline sponsor of the Manchester Pride Festival but we’re delighted to announce a new service flying three times a week from Manchester to Delhi, additional capacity into Barbados from Manchester as well as a Clubhouse opening this summer. This year will also see Flybe transform into Virgin Connect, and we’re excited to offer customers flying from the north 47 daily flights throughout the UK, Ireland and across Europe."
The new Manchester-Delhi route will be offered three times a week on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays and operated with an Airbus A330-200. Flight VS318 will depart Manchester at 4:40PM and arrive in Delhi at 6:05AM the next morning. The return flight (VS319) will operate on Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays, departing Delhi at 8:10AM and arriving in Manchester at 12:10 PM. Manchester-Delhi flights can be booked starting March 3, 2020.
Virgin Atlantic will be increasing capacity from London to Barbados year-over-year by 13 percent from January 2021. In addition to daily flights from Gatwick and a seasonal flight from Heathrow, the carrier is launching three times weekly winter service from Manchester to Barbados. The route will be operated with a Boeing 747 from Manchester on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays.
This winter, Virgin Atlantic’s sun-seeking guests will also enjoy new daily seasonal service between London-Heathrow and Cape Town, South Africa. The route, which will be launched on October 25, 2020, will be operated with a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, complementing the carrier’s existing daily A350 service between LHR and Johannesburg. The Heathrow-Cape Town flight (VS478) departs LHR at 4:20PM and arrives in Cape Town at 5:55AM the next morning. The return flight (VS479) departs Cape Town at 8:00AM and arrives London-Heathrow at 6:00PM.
Finally, for the winter 2020/21 season, Virgin Atlantic, the only UK carrier offering direct service to Havana, will offer an additional weekly frequency to the tropical paradise. Combined, the carrier will offer three-times weekly service to Havana on Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays and the route will be operated with a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner. With the additional frequency, the carrier is increasing capacity to Havana 45 percent compared to the winter 2019 season.
Source: Virgin Atlantic