Virgin Atlantic will have a daily service between London and Sao Paulo, the largest city in South America in 2020. It will be the first flight to the continent by Virgin, which will be operated with Boeing 787-9.
The aircraft is configured with 258 seats, 31 in business class, 35 in premium economy class and 192 in economy class. Virgin, however, has not revealed a start date for the service yet.
“São Paulo represents an incredible opportunity for our business and we are very excited to be flying to a new continent for the first time. There are a significant number of corporate clients and multinational companies located in this South American Powerhouse that can now take advantage of Virgin Atlantic’s experience on this busy international route, ” said Juha Jarvinen, executive vice president of Virgin Atlantic.
Virgin believes that their flight will be an opportunity not only for business, but also for leisure travel and cargo. São Paulo has the largest GDP in South America and Guarulhos Airport is the most connected in Brazil.
Brazil-UK route increases traffic
Virgin’s initiative is not the only one in the region. The low-cost airline Norwegian Air will also fly to Brazil later this month. However, the destination of the flight will be Rio de Janeiro, from Gatwick airport.
Like Virgin, Norwegian will also operate a Boeing 787 on the route, but in a tourist-class configuration. In addition to Virgin and Norwegian, the Brazil-UK route has two more participants, both partners of Oneworld, British Airways and LATAM Airlines.
