It seems Virgin Atlantic is continue to grow, and is growing eastwards, with the announcement of a daily service between London Heathrow and Tel Aviv
Virgin Atlantic Airbus A330-300 at London Heathrow – Image, Economy Class and Beyond.
The service will be a daily service that will fly the five hours between London and Tel Aviv. The plane will be configured with a three class service
- Upper Class (Business Class)
- Premium (Premium Economy)
- Economy (with the Light, Classic and Delight fares being offered).
No exact timings have been released yet, although Virgin Atlantic is stating that flights from Tel Aviv will meet connections at Heathrow for Virgin/Delta flights, including New York, Seattle, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
The airline is also making a play for the cargo space, with the airline offering a “fast cargo service” for fresh produce and high-tech goods for onward shipping to the United States.
Flights go on sale on the 25th February 2019.
The Competition
With Virgin Atlantic sending a three-class plane over, it’s worth looking at what others use:
- British Airways utilises a Boeing 777 and Boeing 787
- El Al uses a Boeing 787 a Boeing 747 or Boeing 777 out of London Heathrow and a Boeing 737 out of London Luton
- Air France uses Airbus A320 family aircraft out of Paris
- KLM uses the Boeing 737 Next Gen family (737-800 and 737-900) out of Amsterdam
- Lufthansa uses Airbus A320 family aircraft out of Frankfurt
As can be seen – it’s a bit of a game changer as it will bring a full three-class service with wide-body comfort (compared to the narrow body aircraft used by competitors in Europe).
In quotes
Shai Weiss, Virgin Atlantic CEO commented:
“2019 marks the start of a new phase of growth for Virgin Atlantic as we work to achieve our ambition to become the most loved travel company. Tel Aviv represents a fantastic opportunity for us – Israel’s economy is booming and as one of the world’s leading tech hubs we’re anticipating many business travellers and entrepreneurs flying between Tel Aviv and the UK. We also see a significant opportunity to increase competition in the US – Tel Aviv market, using the strength of our trans-Atlantic Joint Venture with Delta to offer customers from Tel Aviv a wide range of US destinations connecting through London Heathrow including New York and San Francisco.”
“I’m also thrilled to introduce this new destination to our leisure customers and I know it’s somewhere they’ll love to visit. Renowned for its cultural sites and with UNESCO recognised architecture, Tel Aviv also boasts beautiful beaches, a buzzing artistic and nightlife scene, incredible food and is a great base to explore the tourist destinations of the region including the iconic historical city of Jerusalem, Nazareth, and the Dead Sea”.
An interesting move for Virgin Atlantic – and looking east instead of west
Virgin Atlantic (along with Delta) have focused growth on the core transatlantic network. Last year, Virgin is planning to retreat from Dubai route – leaving it only Lagos, Johannesburg, Delhi, Shanghai and Hong Kong. This is compared to the nine destinations the airline offers to North America just from Heathrow.
With the capacity wars slowly coming to an end on Transatlantic routes (as LCC’s leave or other airlines leave the party), putting that to use in a new market could be a good thing.
Again – it will be down to timings – and hopefully, these will be revealed before tickets go on sale on the 25th February.
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