Virgin Atlantic will start flying daily to Incheon International Airport in Seoul, South Korea, next year.
Flights start from April 2026 on a Boeing 787-9 aircraft and will go on sale on May 14 2025.
This new service will create new East Asian connections, in collaboration with SkyTeam members Korean Air, Vietnam Airlines, China Eastern, China Airlines, Garuda Indonesia and Xiamen Airlines.
Through Seoul Incheon, customers will be able to connect to 15 cities through codeshare agreements with Korean Air throughout South Korea, including Osaka, Nagoya, Tokyo Haneda, Tokyo Narita, Fukuoka, Okinawa and Hokkaido in Japan, Sydney and Brisbane in Australia, Auckland in New Zealand, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang in Vietnam and Hong Kong.
The new route announcement came as Virgin launched flights to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, its first ever flying into the ever-expanding Kingdom.
The airline said the new daily service to King Khalid International Airport will capitalise on business expected from the ambitious Saudi Vision 2030.
The market is expected to have a predominantly Saudi Arabian point of sale, which will see customers visiting the UK, as well as seamlessly connecting to 12 destinations throughout North America, on Virgin Atlantic and Delta networks, including Atlanta, New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Las Vegas, Seattle, Boston and Detroit.
Alongside business travellers, the route will serve the visiting friends and family market, which has seen a fivefold increase in Saudis living in the UK between 2000 and 2018.
Riyadh is also home to the airline’s SkyTeam partner, Saudia and this partnership offers onward connections to Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi in Pakistan.
Virgin Atlantic also looks forward to deepening its partnership with Riyadh Air, when it takes to the skies in 2025.
In September 2024, Virgin Atlantic signed a Strategic Cooperation Memorandum of Understanding, with the goal of introducing an array of benefits for customers traveling between London, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and beyond.
Virgin Atlantic has created a dedicated ‘Riyadh core crew’ who have undertaken specialist training to become experts in Saudi culture.
Arabic coffee is served as part of the pre-departure drinks service alongside a selection of dates in the Upper and Premium cabins, Halal meals are available throughout, and the Travellers Prayer also plays before the safety video
Juha Jarvinen, Chief Commercial Officer, said: “Whilst Virgin Atlantic has long been known as the carrier of choice across the Atlantic and transatlantic travel remains core to our business, we are incredibly excited to expand our network in the east with the announcement of new services to Seoul starting in March 2026.”
