Francis Ogwo
Virgin Atlantic has announced its plan to reopen its passenger flights to 17 additional destinations from August 2020 including Lagos to London Heathrow from the 24th of August.
According to a recent report released to thetravelport, an international platform on the 24th of June, 2020, it stated that the Lagos to London Heathrow will provide connections to a range of US destinations.
“We are also delighted to announce that when we return to Lagos we will be doing so on our new A350-1000 aircraft which is packed with innovation, thoughtful features, and unmistakable Virgin Atlantic flair. From our new enhanced social space to extra storage, and our latest entertainment system, there’s so much to look forward to,” the statement added.
The airline also revealed that London Heathrow to Hong Kong, New York JFK and Los Angeles, would also resume from 20th and 21st July 2020 while adding that more detailed plans of passenger flights to many destinations across the airline’s network.
The airlines Chief Commercial Officer, Juha Jarvinen, added, “As countries around the world begin to relax travel restrictions, we look forward to welcoming our customers back on-board and flying them safely to many destinations across our network. From 20th July, we will resume services to New York, Los Angeles and Hong Kong. Then from 1st August onwards, we will resume passenger flying to 17 additional destinations around the world including Lagos, Tel Aviv, Atlanta, Mumbai and Las Vegas,”
“However, we are monitoring external conditions extremely closely, in particular, the travel restrictions many countries have in place including the 14-day quarantine policy for travellers entering the UK. We know that as the Covid-19 crisis subsides, air travel will be a vital enabler of the UK’s economic recovery. Therefore, we are calling for UK Government to continually review its quarantine measures and instead, look at a multi-layered approach of carefully targeted public health and screening measures, including air bridges, which will support a successful and safe restart of international air travel for passengers and businesses.” Jarvinen added.
The planned restart dates and routes are
21st July 2020 Hong Kong, New York JFK, Los Angeles – London Heathrow
1st August 2020 Barbados – London Heathrow
4th August 2020 San Francisco – London Heathrow
5th August 2020 Shanghai – London Heathrow
10th August 2020 Tel Aviv – London Heathrow
18th August 2020 Miami – London Heathrow
24th August 2020 Lagos – London Heathrow
25th August 2020 Atlanta – London Heathrow
1st September 2020 Boston, Washington, Seattle, Las Vegas – London Heathrow
2nd September 2020 Mumbai, Delhi – London Heathrow
15th September 2020 Johannesburg – London Heathrow
1st October 2020 Antigua – London Heathrow
2nd October 2020 Montego Bay, Grenada (via Antigua) – London Heathrow
4th October 2020 Tobago (via Antigua) – London Heathrow
Virgin Atlantic also added that it will operate temporarily from Terminal 2 at Heathrow, due to HAL’s terminal consolidation. Virgin Atlantic will return to its much-loved home at London Heathrow Terminal 3 when demand at Heathrow grows, enabling Terminal 3 to reopen.
Virgin Atlantic, according to reports, has taken the difficult decision to cancel some services for the remainder of the summer 2020 season, and seasonal services from Glasgow and Belfast to Orlando will now resume for selected dates in summer 2021. “We will continue to monitor our network on an ongoing basis and expect further flights from London Heathrow and Manchester to resume in September and October 2020.
“To ensure the health and safety of its customers and our people, Virgin Atlantic is implementing additional measures to offer peace of mind in the airport and when taking to the skies. These include enhanced and thorough cleaning practices at check-in, boarding gates and on-board including the use of electrostatic spraying of high-grade disinfectant on-board in all our cabins lavatories, ensuring no surface is left untouched.
“Safe distancing will also be adhered to wherever possible, particularly at check-in and boarding and where not possible, masks will be required.
“We will provide a personal Health Pack for the wellbeing and comfort of all our customers, which will contain medical grade facemasks as a requirement to be worn on-board, surface wipes and hand gel. In the short term, to minimise contact, we will also be offering a simplified hot food service in Economy and Premium Economy, enclosed from preparation in a Covid-safe, monitored environment directly to our customers’ seats. Upper Class customers will receive a choice of hot meals and desserts, including cheese & biscuits, which will be delivered to their seat on a tray,” the statement added.
Recall that in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak, Virgin Atlantic like other international airlines, were grounded and are currently tidying up plans to hit the airspace and recover depleted revenues.
