Virgin Atlantic renews Heathrow and Cape Town flight after 6 year absence

Published Feb 12, 2020

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JOHANNESBURG - Richard Branson's Virgin Atlantic on Wednesday announced the renewal of  daily seasonal service flying between London Heathrow and Cape Town.

It said the service, which would  operate on a Boeing 787-9 aircraft, would start on October 25 in addition to Virgin Atlantic's existing daily service to Johannesburg.

This marks Virgin’s return to Cape Town since after its long-standing route was cut in 2014.

Juha Jarvinen,  the chief commercial officer at Virgin Atlantic said on Virgin Atlantic's website : “2020 is an extremely exciting year of continued growth for Virgin Atlantic. Not only are we launching a new service to Sao Paulo in March, but we’re delighted to announce a new seasonal service to Cape Town...”

He said Virgin was expecting a high proportion of leisure travellers on this route taking advantage of the "winter sun, the safaris and of course, the world-famous wine region".

Virgin Atlantic said the new services would be on sale from February 18.

Return Economy fares started from £713 per person, it said.

Virgin will be competing with  Qatar Airways, KLM, British Airways, SAA amongst others.

The announcement comes at a time local state-owned carrier SAA is in business rescue and culling  loss making routes.

"The VS478 will operate as a night flight departing Heathrow at 16:20 arriving into Cape Town at 05:55 whereas the inbound, the VS479, will depart at 08:00 landing later that day at 18:00. Return Economy fares start from £713 per person," Virgin said. 

Cape Town - 180326 - Cape Town International Airport (IATA: CPT, ICAO: FACT) is the primary airport that serves the capital of South Africa, Cape Town, and surroundings Richard Branson's Virgin Atlantic on Wednesday announced a renewal of their daily seasonal service flying between London Heathrow and Cape Town.

Picture: David Ritchie/African News Agency/ANA

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