Will Virgin Atlantic ever return to Gatwick?
Gary NoakesVirgin Atlantic has poured more doubt on an early return to Gatwick after revealing plans to further expand its presence at Heathrow.
Chief executive Shai Weiss this week told Bloomberg News that Virgin was seeking additional slots at Heathrow to add more routes to the US and Asia. He told TTG in September Gatwick was not in Virgin’s plans for 2023-2025. Virgin does, though, retain its slots at the airport.
Weiss’s comments came as Virgin launched another new route out of Heathrow – Tampa Bay, the airport’s first direct link with the city in Florida.
Since it suspended flights from Gatwick in May 2020, Virgin has reaped the benefit of operating from a single base. Moving from Gatwick helped Virgin save £300 million a year during the pandemic, and Weiss told Bloomberg efficiencies gained from operating a larger fleet out of a single base could bring a 20% increase in flights.
Weiss said the airline’s fleet would increase by 25% by 2025, rising from 37 aircraft to 46, which would open many new opportunities.
Virgin’s focus will remain on transatlantic and Caribbean, but there is a new impetus from next year, with Virgin due to join the SkyTeam alliance by January 2023. Delta, which owns 49% of Virgin, will look to explore more synergies with its UK partner and serve more US destinations, although Delta already has all its US hubs covered from London.
Weiss said Virgin would renew its focus on Asia, despite its decision not to resume flights to Hong Kong. He added a service to Seoul was under consideration. Korean Air will likely welcome its SkyTeam partner as its own attempts at UK expansion, centred on a short-lived Gatwick service, did not succeed.
Also in Asia, Virgin has a new codeshare with IndiGo, permitting connections from Virgin’s Delhi and Mumbai flights to 16 destinations throughout India. IndiGo will also feed Virgin’s flights.
Virgin declined to comment further to TTG when approached this week.
Gary Noakes is senior contributor and analyst at TTG.
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