The 20+ Long-Haul Destinations Virgin Atlantic Has Cut From The UK In The Last 20 Years

Summary

  • Virgin Atlantic will end Shanghai flights, one of 21 long-haul destinations removed from the carrier’s network in the past two decades.
  • It means the airline will fly no further east than India and the Maldives.
  • That will change if Seoul, South Korea, materializes, but it will face some of the same problems as Shanghai.

Virgin Atlantic is the second-largest airline for UK long-haul flights. It only operates long-haul flights. It has just cut another airport from its network: Shanghai. This was its last destination in East Asia – but that will change if and when Seoul finally materializes.

Nowadays, Virgin revolves enormously around the US and India, influenced by equity and transatlantic joint venture partner Delta, codeshare agreements (hence the return of Toronto after last being served in 2001), and SkyTeam membership. And, of course, where it believes it can make the most money – or lose the least.

Goodbye, Shanghai

Virgin has served Shanghai Pudong from London Heathrow since 1999. It currently operates daily with the Boeing 787-9, with the last flight back to London on October 26. That’s the day northern carriers, including Virgin, switch to schedules based on IATA slot seasons.

At the time of writing, there is no indication of what will happen to the freed-up 787s or the Heathrow slots this winter.

Virgin Atlantic Boeing 787-9

Photo: Ceri Breeze | Shutterstock

Shanghai was pulled because of underperformance relative to what else could be done with the aircraft and slots. The situation was not helped by being unable to overfly Russia, which meant higher fuel burn, longer trips, higher sector costs, requiring greater aircraft use for the route, etc. Chinese demand is also not where it was, and the Chinese inability to claim back tax on luxury and other goods nowadays is hampering the recovery.

Curiously, the consequences of not overflying Russia would also exist if Virgin began Seoul flights, as previously disclosed, due to the Asiana-Korean Air tie-up. Financial incentives might partly offset it.

Virgin may use codeshare partner and fellow SkyTeam member China Eastern for London flights. This has the additional benefit of being more well-known in the core market (China is the key point of sale) and being able to fly over Russia.

Virgin Atlantic Boeing 787 Taking Off

Photo: Joe Kunzler | Simple Flying

Long-haul destinations cut since 2004

“Long-haul” here is crucial. The article excludes European airports or any other airline unit, past or present, in the Virgin Group, such as Little Red, Virgin Express, Virgin Sun, Virgin America, Virgin Australia, etc. It also doesn’t include announced places, such as São Paulo, that didn’t then begin. It only examines the period since 2004 and focuses on destinations rather than routes.

Related

Up To 37 Daily Flights: Where Virgin Atlantic Is Flying This Summer

Some 85% of summer services are from the UK to just two countries.

Some places, especially those launched during COVID-19, like Pakistan, probably weren’t expected to remain as things got back to normal. They materialized because of available aircraft and the strong recovery of visiting friends and relative markets. Other places ended partly because they were served from London Gatwick, which is no longer part of Virgin’s network, and didn’t switch to Heathrow.

Virgin's long-haul destinations served since 2004 but cut

Image: GCMap

The list below is organized by the last year each destination was served. No long-haul airports appear to have ended in 2004 or 2005.

  • 2006: Port Harcourt
  • 2010: Mauritius
  • 2011: San Juan
  • 2012: Kingston, Nairobi
  • 2013: Accra
  • 2014: Sydney (served via Hong Kong), Vancouver
  • 2015: Tokyo Narita
  • 2016: Chicago O’Hare
  • 2017: Detroit, Varadero
  • 2019: Cancun
  • 2020: Havana, Newark, Tobago
  • 2022: Hong Kong
  • 2023: Islamabad, Lahore
  • 2024: Austin, Shanghai Pudong

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *