LONDON- Crawley-headquartered Virgin Atlantic (VS) announced it will launch a new non-stop flight between London Heathrow (LHR) and Toronto Pearson (YYZ) in Summer 2025 during a press conference celebrating its 40th anniversary on Monday (June 10, 2024).
This marks the airline’s return to Canada after more than a decade, despite significant growth in the Indian market and high demand from the Indian diaspora for travel between India and Canada, Virgin has not tapped this market earlier.
Virgin Atlantic London-Toronto Flight
Virgin Atlantic plans to begin the new service on March 30, 2025, with flight timings designed to provide optimal connectivity for passengers arriving from Bengaluru (BLR), Delhi (DEL), and Mumbai (BOM).
The London-Toronto route will operate daily, utilizing various aircraft types, including Virgin Atlantic’s Airbus A330neo.
Let’s go, Toronto
From hockey pucks and slam dunks to coffeeshops and waterfronts, there’s something for everyone. Daily flights start 30th March 2025. pic.twitter.com/8RcxjHxRM3
— virginatlantic (@VirginAtlantic) June 10, 2024
The service will further benefit from an expanded codeshare agreement with Canadian carrier Westjet (WS), set to begin in October. However, reciprocal frequent flyer benefits will only be available sometime in 2025.
40th Anniversary
As Virgin Atlantic celebrates its 40th anniversary, the airline remains on track to achieve ‘sustainable profitability’ in 2024.
“When starting Virgin Atlantic 40 years ago, I went against everyone’s advice. Friends, experts, the press, the pundits – and on paper, they were right,” Sir Richard Branson, the airline’s exuberant founder, said on Monday.
“Back then, traveling by plane wasn’t a fun experience, but airlines were allowed to get away with it as no real competition existed. I realized then that there was an opportunity to offer passengers a great experience – and I love a challenge. The result was our ruby red airline that shook up aviation.”
Shai Weiss, CEO, of Virgin Atlantic, while celebrating 40 years of flying, he commented,
Richard is the original entrepreneur, who brought a pioneering new approach to air travel in 1984, bringing much-needed competition to the skies. 40 years later and while we have evolved from a challenger to a leader, the same things set us apart. Today we’re looking ahead to the future and the red thread we’ll carry forward. Our people are our superpower, and their ruby red spirit is stronger than ever. Our customers mean the world to us and we exist to make them smile, it’s that simple. We’ll continue to make aviation a better place for everyone, as intended since day one.”
Sir Richard further added: “From 1984 to 2024, it’s our people who make me the proudest. They are much more than just a workforce; they are what makes Virgin Atlantic special.”
Lawsuit by Employees
This pride has often been shared by Virgin Atlantic’s employees, but radical changes during the pandemic have caused some of that sentiment to diminish.
Hundreds of former cabin crew members who were made redundant during the pandemic are suing the airline, alleging that Virgin Atlantic deliberately targeted older and higher-paid employees.
Virgin Atlantic is contesting the lawsuit, stating that the selection criteria for the redundancies were based on “unbiased, objective, and lawful reasons.
Opportunity in Asia and the USA
The USA and Caribbean remain Virgin Atlantic’s core markets, and the airline is also expanding into new territories. Starting in 2025, Virgin Atlantic will offer over a million seats to India for the first time, representing a 350% increase in capacity since 2019.
Meanwhile, Virgin Atlantic Holidays is ambitiously aiming to become the most loved travel company with its premium holiday offerings. It plans to reclaim its top spot in Florida by focusing on Orlando (MCO), Tampa (TAM), and Miami (MIA), partnering with Disney and Universal, and introducing multi-center holidays.
The company aims to become the preferred choice for customers traveling to premium sun destinations like the Caribbean, Maldives, and Dubai. Online, it will enhance customer experience and boost bookings for city breaks to destinations like Las Vegas (LAS) and New York City (JFK).
This year, Virgin Atlantic has added three new state-of-the-art aircraft: two Airbus A350s, from a total order of 13, and one Airbus A330neo, from an order of up to 16.
The latest addition, Ruby Rebel (G-VSRB), is named in homage to Sir Richard Branson and his rebellious spirit. An additional three Airbus A330neos will join the fleet later this year.
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