Virgin Atlantic has announced two more routes from Heathrow, including its first service to South America. A daily service from Heathrow to Sao Paulo, Brazil, will operate from 13 May 2024, with tickets going on sale from August and fares starting from £655. Virgin had planned to launch Heathrow-Sao Paulo flights in March 2020 but pushed it back to October that year before withdrawing the route before it had begun, because of COVID.
In addition, Heathrow-Bengaluru (Bangalore) will become the airline’s fourth daily service to India when it launches on 31 March 2024, operating on a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner.
News of the new services follow the announcement last week that Virgin is returning to Dubai this winter, with a seasonal four-times-a-week flight out of Heathrow. Last week Virgin also said it is relaunching its Manchester-Las Vegas route with a three-times-a-week service and has expanded its Caribbean network, including inter-island flying between Barbados and Grenada and St Vincent and the Grenadines.
London Gatwick celebrated a new air link to the Gulf with the maiden Jeddah, Saudi Arabia flights by flag carrier Saudia. The service will operate six times per week and increases to daily frequency from August.
Jonathan Pollard, Gatwick CCO said: “We continue to provide new global routes that support jobs, trade and opportunities for people across the South East. With Saudia’s base in Jeddah, this new route also provides excellent onward connections.”
With Jeddah flights, London Gatwick currently serves 45 long-haul destinations with new routes across the US, Asia and Africa due to start in the coming months. London Gatwick is preparing a planning application to bring the airport’s Northern Runway back into regular use, for departures only, alongside its Main Runway.
