VSbulletin COVID-19 Ongoing Travel Disruption - 12 Aug
12 August 2021
News
Virgin Atlantic
It continues to be a dynamic time for international travel with ongoing travel restrictions to and from many of the countries we operate to.
We are excited to announce a significant expansion to our Caribbean portfolio and are delighted to be returning to the beautiful island of St Lucia, flying from London Heathrow, whilst there will be new services from Manchester to vibrant Montego Bay, Jamaica. For the first time in its history, Virgin Atlantic will also fly to the idyllic island of Barbados from Edinburgh Airport, providing Scotland’s only direct gateway to the Caribbean. The new routes mark the first time Virgin Atlantic has flown international flights from the Scottish capital in its 37-year history. You’ll see these services in your GDS from 18 August 2021.
Commencing international flights from Edinburgh marks an exciting new chapter for Virgin Atlantic, as we move to a new home in Scotland. Although we’re moving our operations from Glasgow, our new base allows us to grow our flight portfolio, offering our Scottish customers more services to more destinations, than ever before. It also means that Virgin Atlantic will not recommence its seasonal flights from Glasgow to Orlando in summer 2022. We’ll be in touch regarding customers currently booked to travel on services from Glasgow.
As a result of ongoing travel restrictions from the UK to the US, we have pushed back the restart of some transatlantic flights, including our Orlando services from London Heathrow and Manchester. We’re sorry for the inconvenience caused to our customers and look forward to returning to these destinations as soon as possible. World-leading vaccination programmes in both countries means the transatlantic corridor can safely open in both directions and we continue to urge the UK Government to go further and move the US to the UK’s ‘Green list’ and for the Biden administration to repeal the 212F proclamation, which currently prevents UK visitors from entering the US.
As a result of the fast-moving travel environment, we continue to make schedule changes which will affect our Flying Programme for the coming weeks.
We are reducing frequencies on several routes, however to ensure impacted passengers can continue with their travel plans, they will be reprotected to the most suitable alternative departure.
Where a flight is cancelled, and due to limited operations to these destinations, there will be no reprotection option available, these sectors will appear as UN.
Bookings affected by these changes will be updated in your GDS on Saturday 14 August 2021. Our most up to date flexibility policy can be found here
Cancellations Effective until & including
USA
LHR-MCO
15 Sep
MAN-MCO
15 Sep
LHR-LAS
31 Aug
LHR-IAD
31 Aug
LHR-SEA
31 Aug
LHR-SFO
31 Aug
We are also making some frequency updates for August on selected routes. We will provide schedules for September as soon as details become available and will continue to keep our website up to date with all the latest updates to schedule and travel restrictions.
During August we plan to maintain operations on the following routes, subject to late changes:
Our flying programme
USA
LHR-ATL-LHR
12-22 Aug, 4 per week 23-31 Aug, 5 per week
LHR-BOS-LHR
5-22 Aug, 3 per week 23-28 Aug, 4 per week
LHR-JFK-LHR
14 per week
LHR-LAX-LHR
7 per week
LHR-MIA-LHR
3 per week
Caribbean
LHR-BGI-LHR
7 per week
LHR-MBJ-LHR
2-10 Aug, 2 per week 11-31 Aug, 3 per week
LHR-ANU-LHR
3 per week
LHR-GND-LHR (via BGI)
2 per week
MAN-BGI-MAN
3 per week
South Africa
LHR-JNB-LHR
3 per week
India
LHR-BOM-LHR
3 per week
LHR-DEL-LHR
2 per week
Pakistan
LHR-LHE-LHR
2 per week
LHR-ISB-LHR
3 per week
Hong Kong
LHR-HKG
2 per week from 25 Aug
HKG-LHR
7 per week
China
LHR-PVG-LHR
1 per week from 27 Aug
Nigeria
LHR-LOS-LHR
7 per week
Israel
LHR-TLV-LHR
11-31 Aug, 5 per week
Our partners are also back in the skies, and here's a reminder of where they are flying long-haul from the UK.
Our partner Delta Air Lines flying programme
LHR-ATL-LlHR
Daily
LHR-JFK-LHR
5 per week
Please check here regularly for updates and here for specific flight status. v
