Virgin Atlantic To Add Capacity On New London-Dubai Route Next Winter

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Virgin Atlantic will bring back its seasonal service to Dubai International Airport (DXB), launched in October, for the 2024-25 Northern Hemisphere winter season with added frequencies on route.

The UK carrier started flying between its London Heathrow Airport base and DXB in October for the first time since March 2019. The LHR-DXB route is being flown 4X-weekly through March 2024 with a Boeing 787-9 aircraft seating 258 passengers.

Next winter season, the airline will increase the service to daily, running from October 2024 to March 2025.

Additionally, Virgin Atlantic will bring back seasonal flights to Male’s Velana International Airport (MEL) in the Maldives, the Indian Ocean archipelago. The carrier started flying the LHR-MEL route in October using a 787-9 and will operate the service 3X-weekly through March 2024. It will then boost the service to daily for the 2024-25 winter, operating the route again from October through March.

“Our recent route launches to Dubai and the Maldives have already proved exceptionally popular and we’re pleased to offer more opportunities for our customers to reach these luxurious destinations in 2024 and 2025,” Chief Commercial Officer Juha Jarvinen says in a statement.

Virgin Atlantic adds that it will operate 2X-daily flights between LHR and Grantley Adams International Airport (BGI) in Barbados for the 2024-25 winter, as well as 4X-weekly service to the Caribbean island from Manchester Airport (MAN) in the UK. Barbados “will see a record number of flights for 2024,” Virgin Atlantic says.   

Jarvinen adds that Barbados is "our most popular destination in the Caribbean.”

Aaron Karp

Aaron Karp is a Contributing Editor to the Aviation Week Network.