Virgin Atlantic will only send its newest planes, which also happen to have its best Upper Class seats, on flights between London Heathrow and New York JFK and Boston from next summer, the carrier announced on Thursday.
The decision is seen as a direct response to arch-rival British Airways, which has committed to only sending planes fitted out with its latest Club Suite business class seats on flights to and from New York JFK.
Next summer, Virgin Atlantic will operate a record number of flights to New York, adding a seventh daily flight to the Big Apple and together with joint venture partner Delta, the duo will offer a total of ten flights per day between London and New York.
In addition, Virgin Atlantic said on Thursday that it intends to add a second daily flight between London and Boston and will also serve New York from Manchester and Edinburgh.
All of Virgin Atlantic’s flights to Boston and New York JFK from its Heathrow hub will be served by its newest aircraft – the Airbus A350 and Airbus A330neo. Both aircraft also feature the airline’s latest Upper Class business class seats, which represent a significant upgrade on the ageing herringbone ‘coffin’ seats that are fitted on all of Virgin Atlantic’s Boeing 787 Dreamliners and older Airbus A330-300 planes.
In a bid to lure business and premium leisure passengers, all of BA’s flights between Heathrow and New York JFK and Newark have featured the hugely improved Club Suite seat since last year. British Airways currently operates eight daily flights between Heathrow and New York.
In October, Virgin Atlantic said it was withdrawing from Austin after operating the route from Heathrow for just 18 months. The airline used the freed-up capacity from its route cut to add additional flights to Miami, Barbados and Dubai, which are all witnessing “robust customer demand” for premium leisure travel.
Virgin Atlantic is also adding back additional flights to its US ‘heartland’ with a record number of 27 daily departures to key cities across the country, including Atlanta, Los Angeles, Miami, Orlando, San Francisco, Seattle, Tampa, and Washington DC.
“By utilizing our brand new A350 and A339 aircraft, our passengers can travel in style with Virgin Atlantic as we commit to operating the routes that our customers love to fly,” commented Juha Jarvinen, the airline’s chief commercial officer.
Virgin Atlantic warned, however, that there may be the odd occasion that a flight to Boston or New York JFK is swapped out for an older aircraft will the airline’s less desirable Upper Class seats.
