Virgin Atlantic Blames Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine For Decision to Ditch Shanghai Flights – Cutting Last Remaining Destination in East Asia

Virgin Atlantic is set to abandon East Asia in October when it ditches its last remaining destination in the region with the suspension of flights to Shanghai – a decision that the airline has blamed on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The continuing war in Ukraine means that Russian airspace remains shuttered to many Western airlines and Virgin Atlantic’s flights to Shanghai are now taking longer because they must reroute through Europe and Caucasia before flying across China.

Virgin Atlantic says the extra time and fuel required to fly this route are adding “significant challenges and complexities,” which no longer makes Shanghai a viable commercial destination for it to serve.

The decision isn’t permanent, Virgin Atlantic says, although, realistically, it could be many years before Russian airspace reopens to Western carriers.

Before the pandemic, Virgin Atlantic served Asia with flights to Tokyo Narita, Hong Kong and Shanghai from London.

The Tokyo Narita route was shuttered back in 2015, while flights to Hong Kong were never brought back after the territory enacted some of the toughest pandemic travel restrictions in the world.

Shanghai was only reopened last May after China dropped its own pandemic-era entry restrictions, although the last Virgin Atlantic flight bound for Shanghai is now slated to leave London on October 25. The last flight to return to London will leave Shanghai on October 26.

During the pandemic, Virgin Atlantic also opened routes to Pakistan, but the carrier discovered they were pretty low-yielding and decided to abandon these destinations to concentrate on the United States.

Virgin Atlantic hasn’t said how it will redeploy the planes it used on the Shanghai route, but the carrier will likely work in concert with majority shareholder Delta to utilise its fleet on a North American route.

After embarking on a tough turnaround programme at the height of the pandemic, CEO Shai Weiss says Virgin Atlantic is now on the verge of becoming profitable – an achievement that he believes is sustainable despite the airline’s retreat from what was once a key market for the Richard Branson founded carrier.