As reported here on September 20, Virgin Atlantic has now secured extra slots at London Heathrow airport and is poised to launch short-haul domestic routes in the UK from March next year.
The airline has won the bidding for 12 slot pairs sold by International Airlines Group, parent of British Airways, as part of the conditions of its takeover of BMI.
Virgin will fly daily from Heathrow to Aberdeen and Edinburgh and plans to add flights to Manchester. The aim is to use this new domestic service as feeder flights to its long-haul services from Heathrow.
“These new routes will provide a strong flow of feed on to our long-haul flights across the Atlantic and beyond. With up to a million passengers connecting through Europe each year, the addition of short-haul flying will have a material impact on our load factors and yield across much of the network,” Virgin Atlantic said.
Virgin to break into the UK short-haul market
