Virgin Atlantic has announced its plans to grow to record levels of sustained profitability by 2018. 

Building on its existing two year recovery plan, which is on target to deliver an annual profit by the end of 2014, the airline is now shifting focus onto positioning its business for long term success.

In order to achieve this ambition, Virgin Atlantic plans to update its network and make significant investment into the Virgin Atlantic customer experience.

The changes will see the airline bring in a new daily service from London Heathrow to Detroit, alongside additional daily services from Heathrow to New York JFK and Los Angeles.

An additional daily service during the summer season from London Heathrow to Atlanta will also be added, as well as a daily flight to Miami during the winter.

The opportunities for investment in the transatlantic schedule as are designed to maximise the benefits of its joint venture partnership with Delta Air Lines.

The intended network changes will deliver up to five new daily transatlantic flights and see over 500 more Virgin Atlantic flights operate in summer 2015 compared to summer 2014.

In order to maximise these opportunities, further proposed changes will include the termination operations to Tokyo Narita early in 2015.

Flights to Mumbai will also be dropped in January next year, while the summer seasonal service from London Heathrow to Vancouver will not return after this season’s flying programme is completed on October 11th.

The winter seasonal service to Cape Town will operate as planned in winter 2014/15 but will not be renewed the following winter.

The intended changes will enable Virgin Atlantic to better utilise its fleet by flying routes which deliver maximum profit or strategic importance, while matching customer desire to travel to other global destinations.

Virgin Atlantic chief executive Craig Kreeger said: “Our ambition is to be profitable for the long term, earn competitive returns, and invest those into providing the very best experience for our customers on the routes they most want to fly.

“Transatlantic flying has always been at the heart of our network and our most financially successful region.

“This announcement allows us to play to our strengths and focus our network on routes between the UK and US, as well as other critical global destinations that are most important to our customers.”

More Information

Join chief executive Craig Kreeger at World Travel Market where he will address an industry audience on the future of the airline.