Virgin Atlantic finalising plans for new US route

Chief commercial officer Juha Jarvinen said the new destination will be in operation by summer 2022.

He spoke to TTG during the airline’s second trip to Nassau as part of its new twice-weekly Heathrow-Bahamas service.

"There is something coming up, most likely forming next week, and we will be offering a new destination that we’ve never flown to before," he said.

The move comes despite a reported 9% decrease in sales last weekend following the outbreak of the Omicron variant of Covid-19, with the biggest impact on the carrier’s South African and Israel bookings.

Jarvinen said the airline has seen "a slowing down" of December and January traffic, but bookings for next summer and spring have continued at a "normal" speed.

"Assuming Omicron doesn’t turn out to be more serious than other variants, we are extremely confident 2022 will be a good year, and we are obviously ramping up operations to meet that demand," Jarvinen continued.

"People want to treat themselves, they want to buy upgrades from economy to premium or upper. We’re very excited to keep renewing our product to make sure we are relevant for the customers."