@SeanM1997

It is now 18 months since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and the UK-US aviation market has changed beyond imagination. Norwegian Air, who's largest base was London Gatwick, has given up on long haul flying (1), Delta Airlines cancelled plans to serve London Gatwick and Manchester, American Airlines and United Airlines left Manchester, British Airways cut two US routes from London Heathrow and Virgin Atlantic consolidated its London operation at London Heathrow. Its fair to say, the sector was torn apart in 2020 and 2021, however, with the vaccine rollout, borders reopening and increasing pressure to return to normality, the sector is demonstrating signs of recovering and new players entering the market. Since 2 August 2021, the United Kingdom has allowed vaccinated visitors from the United States to enter the country without quarantine, with a pre-departure and Day 2 test only. This allowed airlines including British Airways, United Airlines and Virgin Atlantic to record surge ...

Virgin Atlantic have announced four new routes from across the United Kingdom, including a return to Edinburgh - as the long haul carrier looks to capitalise on the increase in passengers to the Caribbean and leisure destinations. Today (11 August 2021), Virgin Atlantic announced four new routes to start in Winter 2021*. These are: - London Heathrow to St Lucia - 3x weekly flights starting 18 December 2021 - Manchester to Montego Bay - 3x weekly flights starting 6 November 2021 - Edinburgh to Bridgetown (Barbados) - 2x weekly flights starting 5 December 2021 - Edinburgh to Orlando International - 2x weekly flights starting 30 March 2022 London Heathrow to St Lucia: Virgin Atlantic cut its London Gatwick to St Lucia route in 2020 after the  Saint Lucia Tourism Authority said it “could not meet the proposals from Virgin Atlantic” which led to the decision to withdraw its UK service(1). This is Virgin Atlantic's only route into St Lucia and enlarges the long haul carrier's n...

Virgin Atlantic have announced a new route from London Heathrow to Nassau with flights commencing 20 November 2021. This is Virgin Atlantic's only route into The Bahamas and enlarges the long haul carrier's network to 8 Caribbean destinations - which has seen St Vincent Argyle added to its network in 2021. Additionally, this is the first new route announcement since the St Vincent announcement in November 2020. Nassau currently has a direct flight to London Heathrow with British Airways, currently operating three times weekly. Virgin Atlantic would therefore provide competition on the route. Furthermore, Virgin Atlantic are the only second European airline to fly to Nassau and subject to flight timings, could offer connections at its London Heathrow hub on to other European cities via its codeshare partners including Amsterdam and Amsterdam. Virgin Atlantic plan to operate two weekly flights between London Heathrow and Nassau for Winter 2021. Flight timings will be updated in d...