With the introduction of two new East Coast services, the transatlantic partnership will offer up to 18 daily flights between the UK and Boston and JFK. Full schedule and fare information for the new routes will be announced later this year.
The East Coast flights will complement Virgin Atlantic’s existing network from London Gatwick to Florida and the Caribbean, where it currently operates up to 33 flights per week to eight destinations.
The new flights will see Delta return to London Gatwick for the first time in eight years. The airport was the destination for Delta’s first transatlantic flight more than 40 years ago, when services began from Atlanta.
Executive Vice President Commercial for Virgin Atlantic, Juha Jarvinen, says: “Virgin Atlantic is pleased to announce that we’re expanding at London Gatwick, with the addition of new routes to New York JFK and Boston operated in partnership with Delta.”
Jarvinen continues: “Together we offer customers an unrivalled choice of US destinations and the leading transatlantic service as well as one of our newest and most luxurious clubhouses, located in Gatwick’s north terminal.
“The new routes to New York and Boston will go on sale later this year and will complement the wide range of Caribbean and Florida flights already offered at London Gatwick.”
The new service will bring Virgin and Delta into competition with British Airways and Norwegian. BA already operates from Gatwick to New York while Norwegian flies to both New York and Boston from the Sussex airport.
Virgin Atlantic recently announced two new routes from Heathrow to Tel Aviv in Israel and to Sao Paulo in Brazil.
Flights to Tel Aviv launch on September 25 2019, and flights to Sao Paulo are set to launch in 2020.
Delta has also said it is enhancing its aircraft on all flights between London-Heathrow and Boston.
The flights will now be operated by Airbus A330-200, which already serves Delta’s JFK-Heathrow flights and features additional premium seats.
