Virgin Atlantic is delighted to announce that it will increase its Heathrow Shanghai services from five weekly to daily starting on 30 October 2005 and plans to start a daily Beijing service as soon as possible.  These new services follow the Chinese government’s decision to make the UK one of its Approved Destination Countries, which allows more Chinese tourists to visit the UK.Sir Richard Branson, Chairman of Virgin Atlantic commented:

“Virgin Atlantic is delighted to offer daily services to Shanghai from October.  Virgin Atlantic has been operating flights between London and Shanghai since 1999 and has been instrumental in developing the link between the two cities.  The airline has flown over 330,000 passengers on the route to date.

“China is one of the fastest growing economies of the world and following last week’s decision by the government to give the UK Approved Destination Status we are also planning to start daily services to Beijing as soon as possible.

“With China hosting the Olympics in 2008 we believe that there will be a huge demand for passengers who wish to take advantage of competitive fares and the quality of service that Virgin Atlantic offers.

“Virgin Atlantic also added a daily service between Hong Kong and Sydney in December, adding more capacity to this region.”

Chris Humphrey, Virgin Atlantic’s Country Manager for China commented:

“Virgin Atlantic recognises that China is a world economic and cultural leader and is extremely committed to developing links between the UK and China.  We are therefore very proud to announce the move to a daily service to Shanghai from October and daily service to Beijing in the very near future. 

“These new services are great news both for the airline and for consumers - more flights mean increased flexibility, choice and ultimately more competitive fares.”

Virgin Atlantic currently flies five times a week between London Heathrow and Shanghai Pudong Airport. The VS250 departs Heathrow at 16:00 on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays arriving into Shanghai Pudong Airport at 11:15 the following day. (The flight departs at 15.50 on Friday and at 16.05 on Tuesday).  The return flight VS251 departs Shanghai on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 13:30 arriving into Heathrow at 17:50. 

Virgin Atlantic currently operates a daily service between London Heathrow and Hong Kong and has recently launched daily services between Hong Kong and Sydney, Australia. 
——-