Virgin to end Little Red service

VIRGIN Atlantic is to axe its Little Red domestic service next year which flies from Manchester to London three times a day.

Earlier this summer the airline, which launched in early 2013, reduced the Manchester service by one flight but stressed the move reflected a loss of slots to another carrier rather than poor demand.

Virgin has previously said it launched the service to feed its long-haul flights from Heathrow rather than compete with the likes of Ryanair and easyJet.

Following the acquisition of BMI by BA’s parent IAG in 2012 Virgin was dependent on BA flying its customers to pick up long-haul flights from Heathrow. Virgin said passenger numbers “grew steadily” but few were connecting with long-haul Virgin flights.

“Little Red has unfortunately not been able to make a positive contribution to Virgin Atlantic’s network,” the company said.

Its daily services between London Heathrow and Manchester will continue until the end of March 2015, while its flights between London Heathrow and Edinburgh and Aberdeen will continue throughout summer 2015 with the final flights in September 2015.

Virgin Atlantic president Sir Richard Branson, said: “When the competition authorities allowed British Airways to take over British Midland and all of its slots, we feared there was little we could do to challenge BA’s huge domestic and European network built through decades of dominance.

“To remedy this, we were offered a meagre package of slots with a number of constraints on how to use them and we decided to lease a few planes on a short term basis to give it our best shot. The odds were stacked against us and sadly we just couldn’t attract enough corporate business on these routes. We will stop flying the Little Red services between Manchester and London at the end of March 2015 and the Aberdeen and Edinburgh services at the end of September 2015. The team did their absolute best to make a go of it and I thank them all for their amazing efforts.”

A spokesman for Manchester Airport said: “While it is disappointing to see Virgin’s Little Red service end, it is positive that the airline sees the potential for growth at Manchester within the long haul sector. Just last month Virgin announced it would be taking over Delta’s Atlanta service, increasing capacity in the process, whilst Delta would be adding a new service to New York.

“With these additions Virgin and Delta will provide five direct long haul services from Manchester in summer 2015 (Atlanta, New York, Orlando, Barbados and Las Vegas), providing passengers with increased options to ‘Fly Manchester’.”

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