Virgin Atlantic to expands Manchester capacity
VIRGIN Atlantic is to increase capacity on its Manchester to Orlando leisure route by 30,000 seats next summer.
The airline is to use a 455-seat Boeing 747 on all 11 of its weekly flights from the region to Florida – currently seven of the carrier’s flights are operated with a 314 seat Airbus A330.
Virgin Atlantic says the expansion, which represents up to 2,000 extra seats to and from Orlando a week, comes in response to strong demand from North West customers. From 2014 it will carry up to 10,000 passengers every week for the summer schedule, a 25% increase on this year.
Edmond Rose, director of airline planning at Virgin Atlantic, said: “Orlando has always been one of our most popular destinations and across our network we offer nearly 40 return flights a week to Florida.
“We are delighted to see continued high demand for our flights from the North West of England and to meet this demand we have taken the decision to bring a second Boeing 747 jumbo jet onto this route, resulting in a huge increase in the number of seats available for holidaymakers looking for a sunshine break.
“This continues our recent work with Manchester Airport to expand our operations, after we launched our first ever domestic flight from the airport this Easter.”
Ken O’Toole, chief commercial officer at Manchester Airports Group added: “We’re delighted that Virgin Atlantic is expanding its level of long haul activity from the North West by deciding to base a second 747 ‘jumbo’ jet aircraft at Manchester from Summer 2014.
“Our ‘Fly Manchester’ campaign continues to drive increased passenger and airline awareness of the strength of our catchment and long haul route network. We look forward to working with Virgin Atlantic to further increase their route network and scale of direct connections from Manchester in the future.”
