UK airline Virgin Atlantic has announced it intends to drop yet another long-haul route from its network. The airline will cease flying to The Bahamas as well as to Turks and Caicos in the Caribbean “following a review of its network”.
The final flight to Turks and Caicos will depart from London-Heathrow Airport on February 21, 2025, while the airline’s last flight to The Bahamas will depart from London on February 23, 2025. The company currently operates three flights a week to The Bahamas and two flights to Turks and Caicos.
“As we continue to focus on optimizing our network, we regularly review the destinations we fly to,” said a Virgin Atlantic spokesperson. “As part of this, we’ve made the decision to increase our frequencies to Antigua, Barbados, and Cape Town next year, and to sadly suspend operations to The Bahamas and Turks and Caicos.
“We’re very sorry for the disappointment caused to our customers flying to The Bahamas and Turks and Caicos and anyone booked to travel on these routes will be contacted with their options” the spokesperson added.
The redeployment of the aircraft that currently operate the airline’s flights to The Bahamas and Turks and Caicos will see Antigua services increasing to four flights per week for the northern winter 2024 season, and Barbados services increasing to 10 per week. Meanwhile and elsewhere in the Caribbean, the carrier will continue to fly direct to Montego Bay four times a week.
Additionally, the carrier’s seasonal winter flights from London to Cape Town will be extended by a month to end on April 30, 2025.
These latest route cuts join a growing list of routes served and dropped by Virgin Atlantic since the early noughties as the carrier continues to search for the optimum combination of destinations across the world where it can sustain decent revenue returns year-round. Such destinations that have fallen into then out of favor in that time include Shanghai, Sydney, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Port Harcourt, Accra, Nairobi, Mauritius, Lahore, Islamabad, San Juan, Kingston, Tobago, Varadero, Cancun, Havana, Chicago, Detroit, Austin, and Newark.
Sao Paulo in Brazil was due to start in 2024 but was postponed indefinitely while other destinations such as Toronto have started, been discontinued, and then restarted again.
