Virgin Atlantic announced on Thursday they will be adding 43,000 additional seats this summer from Manchester to popular destinations like Orlando, Barbados and Las Vegas. The company will also launch five new Virgin Holidays stores in the UK.
Today, Virgin Atlantic announced that they will be increasing capacity from Manchester for the summer 2020 holiday travel season, adding over 43K seats versus 2019. Additionally, the company unveiled five new Virgin Holidays stores in the UK which will give leisure travelers an immersive experience while booking their vacations. Virgin Atlantic, combined with their regional carrier Virgin Connect and partnership with Delta Air Lines will now offer more flights from Manchester than any other airline. The collective Virgin Atlantic family will now offer over 800K long-haul seats from Manchester next summer. Virgin Connect was formerly called Flybe and is Europe’s largest regional carrier. In today’s announcement Virgin Atlantic’s EVP Commercial, Juhu Jarvinen stated,
“Today’s announcement outlines the latest phase of our growth strategy at Manchester, our home in the North. In September we committed to 30,000 additional seats from Manchester for Winter 2019 and today, we are expanding on that with an extra 43,000 seats to key leisure destinations for Summer 2020, which is a clear sign of our ambition to offer increased choice to our customers traveling from the North West.”
The additional summer flights announced today will be available for sale starting Saturday November 9, 2019. Some of the highlights of the added service include an increase from two to three weekly flights from Manchester to Barbados and an addition of two weekly flights to Las Vegas. Up to two additional flights will be offered to Orlando, bringing the total to up to 14 weekly flights. The company also announced two additional flights from London-Gatwick to Orlando, offering passengers a total of up to 18 weekly flights during the summer 2020 season.
Virgin Atlantic also announced that five new Virgin Holidays stores would be opened in Birmingham, Derby, Peterborough, Romford and Stoke-on-Trent before year’s end. The company previously announced plans for seven stores in Canterbury, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle and St. Albans, which will all open this year. British holidaymakers will undoubtedly welcome the fun immersive atmosphere of the new Virgin Holidays stores, particularly after the collapse of Thomas Cook earlier this year. Commenting on today’s announcement, Head of Virgin Retail, Rach Wilton said,
“We’re delighted to continue to grow the Virgin Holidays experience for our customers with five further stores joining our expanding retail portfolio. We aim to create a truly immersive experience for our customers, which begins right at the point of booking. We want customers to be able to imagine themselves on their holiday from the moment they enter our stores by bringing the sights, sounds and tastes of their holiday to their home town.”
Next spring, Virgin Atlantic’s Manchester passengers will also welcome the new Clubhouse which will be available to Upper Class and Gold Card members. The club will include a-la-carte dining, a full-service bar, spa, and quiet working spaces, giving passengers the opportunity relax before departure.
Source: Virgin Atlantic