Virgin Atlantic eyes mid and short-haul flights
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Virgin Atlantic has announced plans to move into the mid and short-haul flight market with new services to Moscow.
The traditionally long-haul carrier is hoping to launch flights to the Russian capital next year if it is granted the 12 daily slots at Heathrow that British Airways was forced to give up with its bmi takeover. BA already launched flights to Moscow earlier this year.
“This route is now open for another UK airline following BA’s takeover of bmi and we are making preparations to take up these rights early next year. Linking these two cities will be an important part of our strategy to run short haul flights into Heathrow thus feeding our long haul network,” said Steve Ridgway, chief executive at Virgin Atlantic.
Virgin Atlantic, which has continued to criticise the BA/bmi merger, is keen to establish more routes with growing economies to provide onward connections. Its Heathrow-Mumbai route is to launch in October, with inbound traffic to Heathrow then combined with its flights into the US.
“Our core flying has always been across the Atlantic but we have been clear that we will also continue to grow our routes to emerging markets if given the slots at London Heathrow,” added Ridgway.
Virgin Atlantic made the announcement in Mexico at the launch of its flights from Gatwick to Cancun. At the launch, Sir Richard Branson also announced the carrier is to display a message and link against Air Passenger Duty (APD) to its e-tickets.
