Virgin Atlantic heads to Scotland
- By Jack Preston -
- Sep 07, 2012
Virgin Atlantic has announced the second stage in its plans to start short-haul services, by confirming it has bid to fly multiple daily flights between London Heathrow and Scotland.
The airline is developing a network operation to start in March 2013, confirming that its next regional focus is on Edinburgh and Aberdeen. It aims to uplift passenger numbers by restoring competition that was lost on routes between these airports and London Heathrow following IAG’s takeover of bmi.
“Virgin Atlantic is totally committed to providing a competitive price and choice for passengers flying from Scotland to Heathrow and beyond,” explained Virgin Atlantic’s Chief Executive Steve Ridgway.
“As we shook up the status-quo in long haul travel nearly 30 years ago, we’re now doing all we can to have the same decisive impact on the short haul market. Our aim is to reach a significant new base of both direct and connecting passengers, and in doing so we intend to bring our award-winning service, competitive prices and greater choice to the Scottish travelling public.”
Flights to and from Scotland would allow Virgin Atlantic to re-inject competition for passengers, with a strong brand offer for both long haul and short haul passengers, 750,000 of whom connect onwards at Heathrow each year.
A decision on Virgin Atlantic’s bid for the remedy routes is expected from the European Commission by the end of the year.
Virgin Atlantic also recently announced plans to fly from London Heathrow to Manchester.
If you’d like to book a flight on one of the airline’s current routes, visit the Virgin Atlantic website.
By Jack Preston. Content Executive. Tweets at @JackPressedOn
