Virgin Atlantic unveiled new routes on Monday, including two debuts, Bengaluru in India and Sao Paulo in Brazil. Both flights will be operated with Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner jets.
The flight to Bengaluru will start on March 31, 2024 and will be daily. This is the carrier’s fourth destination in India, a market where it has expanded its capacity by 250% since 2019.
The daily flight to the largest city in Brazil will start on May 13, 2024 and will be the carrier’s first destination in South America
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Virgin will take advantage of the partnership established with LATAM to offer connecting flights in the region. Ticket sales will start in August, with fare prices starting at £655.
The airline’s 787-9 Dreamliner has four classes of service – Upper (31 seats), Premium (35), Economy Delight (36) and Economy (156), for a total of 258 seats.
Virgin also announced the return of flights to Dubai from London, and the Manchester-Las Vegas route in the US, among other recently revealed destinations.
“We’re excited to announce a range of new routes across three continents, giving our customers the opportunity to fly in style with Virgin Atlantic. From our entry into South America, to our expansion in India and the growth of our premium sun portfolio, there is something for all of our customers to experience,” said Shai Weiss, CEO of Virgin Atlantic.
Aggressive advertising and backtracking
Virgin Atlantic had previously promised to fly from London to São Paulo. In March 2019, the airline announced the new route, which should have debuted a year later.
However, the Covid-19 pandemic forced the carrier to suspend frequencies before it even started. Until then, Virgin had promised an aggressive pricing strategy “to end the duopoly” of LATAM and British Airways on the route, Branson said at the time.
The situation, however, changed with the association of LATAM with Delta, which is also a partner of Virgin. In January 2022, the two airlines agreed on the code-share that is currently in effect.
