Virgin Atlantic to scrap four routes

Virgin Atlantic is stopping flights to Tokyo Narita, Mumbai, Vancouver and Cape Town and is instead launching new transatlantic services.

Announcing the changes, the airline said it was ‘shifting focus onto positioning its business for long term success’.

The final flights from London to Narita and Mumbai will operate on January 31.

The summer seasonal service from Heathrow to Vancouver will not return after this season’s flying programme is completed on October 11.

Meanwhile, the winter seasonal service to Cape Town will operate as planned in winter 2014/15 but will not be renewed the following winter. The final flight from London to Cape Town will be on April 26 2015.

Instead, Virgin Atlantic has unveiled plans for five new daily transatlantic flights, some of them as part of its joint venture partnership with Delta Air Lines.

The proposed changes include:

– A new daily service from London Heathrow to Detroit
– An additional daily service from London Heathrow to New York, JFK
– An additional daily service from London Heathrow to Los Angeles
– An additional daily service during the summer season from London Heathrow to Atlanta
– An additional summer seasonal service from London Heathrow to San Francisco flying five times a week
– An additional daily service during the winter season from London Heathrow to Miami
– A transfer of operations with joint venture partner Delta Air Lines that will see Virgin Atlantic fly a daily service between Manchester and Atlanta and Delta fly one of Virgin Atlantic’s existing London Heathrow to Newark services.
– In addition, Delta Air Lines will launch a new daily service between Manchester and New York JFK in Summer 2015.

The changes see over 500 more Virgin Atlantic flights operate in summer 2015 compared to summer 2014.

"The intended changes will enable Virgin Atlantic to better utilise its fleet by flying routes which deliver maximum profit or strategic importance, whilst matching customer desire to travel to other global destinations," said Virgin in a statement today.

"Virgin Atlantic remains deeply committed to all of its global destinations and its network will include a continued presence in South Africa through its Johannesburg service, a continued presence in India through its Delhi service, as well as flights to other key destinations in Asia, Africa, Caribbean and the Middle East."

Tha airline thanked its customers and staff in Tokyo, Cape Town, Mumbai and Vancouver for their loyalty and commitment to our services.

"In the future if Heathrow gains its long overdue expansion, Virgin Atlantic would love to re-enter Tokyo, Cape Town, Mumbai and Vancouver," the statement said.

Virgin Atlantic chief executive Craig Kreeger added: "Our ambition is to be profitable for the long term, earn competitive returns, and invest those into providing the very best experience for our customers on the routes they most want to fly.

"Transatlantic flying has always been at the heart of our network and our most financially successful region. Today’s announcement allows us to play to our strengths and focus our network on routes between the UK and US, as well as other critical global destinations that are most important to our customers"

Meanwhile, the airline has announced an investment of £300 million in ‘customer experience’ improvements by the end of 2018.