Virgin Atlantic to Drop Kingston Flight

Virgin Atlantic Airways is to suspend its twice weekly service between London Gatwick and Kingston from the start of the 2012 Northern Summer season but will continue to serve Montego Bay on a twice weekly basis. The UK carrier is no longer offering capacity to Kingston from March 25, 2012, a route that is also flown by British Airways and is expected to be operated by Air Jamaica when it returns to the long-haul market.

Around 243,000 O&D passengers travelled between the UK and Jamaica on scheduled flights last year, a market that is much larger when you also incorporate the charter traffic. Virgin Atlantic handled 60.1 per cent of these passengers with its main rival British Airways flying 35.2 per cent. An analysis of this traffic data by destination shows that the London Gatwick – Kingston market is actually more popular than London Gatwick – Montego Bay. An estimated 114,000 O&D passengers travelled to or from Kingston with slightly less, 112,000, making the journey to or from Montego Bay, although the yield to the latter is slightly stronger.