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Virgin Atlantic is one of the main full-service carriers of the United Kingdom and operates a fleet exclusively made up of widebody airliners. Its fleet includes 14 Airbus A330s (including six A330-300s and eight A330neos), 12 A350-1000s, and 17 Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners for a total mainline fleet of 43 aircraft. The fleet is also relatively young at 8.2 years on average. Virgin has another 11 A330neos (A330-900s) on order, and these will replace its older fleet of A330-300s.
Virgin’s largest capacity aircraft is its fleet of a dozen A350-1000s. These come in two seating configurations, with one configuration having 44 business class seats, 56 economy class seats, and 235 economy seats for a total of 335 seats. The second configuration (five aircraft) has 16 business class seats, 56 premium economy seats, and 325 economy seats, making 397 seats in total. Here is what to know about Virgin’s seven most frequent transatlantic flights to the US scheduled for 2026, according to data provided by Cirium.
7
Las Vegas, Nevada
73 scheduled flights
Whereas all of British Airways’ scheduled Airbus A350-1000 flights to the United States for 2026 depart from London Heathrow, two of the most frequent Virgin Atlantic A350 routes are from the northern English city of Manchester. Manchester is the busiest airport in the United Kingdom outside of the London area and is a place where Virgin has a 55% market share of transatlantic capacity to the United States.
Virgin is scheduled to operate 73 (146 with return) one-way flights to Las Vegas in Nevada, carrying 28,981 seats and generating 147 million ASMs. According to FlightRadar24, Virgin Atlantic is the only airline operating on this route and has flights three times a week. The average distance is 5,088 miles (8,176 km).
Las Vegas is the only destination from Manchester west of the Rockies. Manchester Airport offers flights to New York JFK, Las Vegas, Orlando, and Atlanta in the United States. Additionally, it has connections with Canada’s Toronto, Mexico’s Cancun, and some Caribbean leisure destinations.
6
San Francisco, California
161 scheduled flights
Virgin is also an important airline at the UK’s main international hub of London Heathrow. There, it has around 5% of the total market share and is the second-largest airline by flights after British Airways ( BA has around 50% of all slots). With its SkyTeam joint venture partners, it has around 24% share of transatlantic routes.
Cirium’s data shows Virgin is to operate a total of 161 flights in each direction between Heathrow and San Francisco during 2026. The seat capacity is 53,935, the ASMs are 289 million, and the average distance is 5,368 miles (8,625 km). Currently, Virgin is operating the route twice daily with its A350-1000s and Boeing 787-9s.
Virgin Atlantic’s fleet | Quantity |
|---|---|
Airbus A330 | 14 (8 of which are NEOs) |
Airbus A350-1000 | 12 |
Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner | 17 |
Total | 43 |
Aircraft on order | 11 A330neos (total acquisition for 19 A330neos) |
Virgin Atlantic also competes on this route with British Airways (twice-daily flights) and United Airlines (three daily flights). British Airways is operating its A380s and Boeing 777s on the route while United uses its Boeing 787-9s. San Francisco’s routes to Europe, Asia, New Zealand, and Australia are similar (often thinner) compared with LAX (below), although it currently lacks direct routes to South America and Africa.
5
Los Angeles, California
322 scheduled flights
The next busiest route for Virgin Atlantic’s fleet of Airbus A350-1000s is to be the route between Heathrow and Los Angeles. This route is one of Virgin’s longest at 5,456 miles (8,769 km) and will carry 107,870 seats while generating 588 million ASMs. Virgin Atlantic is currently operating three flights a day on this popular route, with one flight using its A350-1000s and the other two using its Boeing 787-9s. These flights depart London at 1:10 pm (A350-1000), 5:45 pm, and 9:25 pm.
LAX is one of the busiest and among the best-connected airports in the US, although its routes to the UK are restricted to London Heathrow. It also has flights to Dublin, Paris, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Frankfurt, Rome, Madrid, and other European destinations. Connections with South America are limited to Chile’s Santiago, Peru’s Lima, and Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro.
Virgin also competes with three other airlines on this route, including American (twice-daily flights with 787s and 777s), British Airways (thrice-daily flights with A380s and 777s), and United Airlines (once daily flights with 787s). Virgin’s only other West Coast destination is Seattle, which it serves with its Airbus A330neos. British Airways serves more West Coast destinations, including San Diego, Seattle, and Vancouver.
4
Atlanta, Georgia
363 scheduled flights
Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport is famous for being a megahub for Delta Air Lines and is the busiest airport in the world, depending on methodology. But besides being the place where the American South says, “Whether you’re going to heaven or hell, you have to change planes in Atlanta,” it is also well-connected to destinations across the Atlantic in Europe.
Virgin Atlantic is scheduled to operate near-daily (363) A350-1000 flights to Atlanta, carrying 121,605 seats. The distance of this route is 4,211 miles (6,786 km) and generates the Virgin A350-1000 fleet of some 512 million ASMs. Virgin is currently only operating this daily flight on the route with its fleet of new A350-1000s. The flight departs Heathrow at 3:25 pm and departs Atlanta at 6:15 pm.
On the Atlantic route, Virgin competes with its familiar foe, British Airways, which operates daily flights using its Boeing 777s. Unsurprisingly, it also competes with the giant, Delta Air Lines, which operates three flights a day using its aging fleet of Boeing 767 aircraft (being phased down/out).
3
Orlando, Florida (From Manchester)
378 scheduled flights
The next busiest scheduled route for Virgin’s A350-1000s to the US for 2026 is a tie (378 scheduled flights) between Heathrow to Orlando International Airport and Manchester to Orlando. Interestingly, the usual distance can’t be used here as a tiebreaker, as it is an average distance of 4,337 miles (6,973 km) for both routes.
Heathrow wins (listed below) due to marginally higher ASMs than the Manchester to Orlando route. From Manchester, Virgin Atlantic is to carry 140,890 seats with its A350-1000s and generate around 600 million ASMs. Virgin Atlantic currently has this route to itself, flying its A350s daily departing Manchester at 4:10 pm and Orlando at 8:30 pm local time. It also operates its A330s on the route one or two times a week.
It is also worth noting that the leisure airline, TUI Airways, operates flights around once or twice a week from Manchester to the nearby city of Melbourne, Florida (not to be confused with Melbourne, Australia). TUI uses its Boeing 787 Dreamliners on this route. The TUI Group is a German leisure, travel, and tourism company that includes travel agencies, hotel chains, cruise lines, retail shops, and five European airlines, of which TUI Airways is the largest one.
2
Orlando, Florida (From London)
378 scheduled flights
As stated, the flight from Heathrow to Orlando is listed above the Manchester route due to marginally higher ASMs (607 million). The average distance on this route is also 4,337 miles (6,973 km). Separately, Orlando is notable for being a large airport, but not a major hub for any airline.
The flight between Orlando and Heathrow is to carry 139,960 seats in each direction. Also, interestingly, Virgin is the only airline to currently serve the Orlando to Heathrow route, operating two flights daily with A350s and A330s. These flights depart Heathrow at 12:50 pm and 6:00 pm and depart Orlando at 3:50 pm and 6:40 pm.
Orlando is a leisure destination, and so some of the flights depart from London Gatwick instead of the premier international hub of Heathrow. Norse UK operates one flight daily from Gatwick using 787s, while British Airways flies twice-daily using 777s. US-based carriers do not appear to be operating on the Orlando to Heathrow/Gatwick route currently.
1
New York, New York
841 scheduled flights
Just as the Heathrow to New York-JFK route is the busiest route for British Airways (and was the first route to generate over $1 billion in a year), JFK is also the busiest route for Virgin’s fleet of US-bound A350-1000s by a considerable margin. The popular route is to see a total of 841 one-way Virgin A350-1000 flights carrying 282,107 seats, generating some 973 million ASMs.
The distance is also shorter than some other routes at 3,452 miles (5,545 km). There is plenty of competition on this route (including for slots). Virgin is to operate three to five flights daily using its Boeing 787s and Airbus A350-1000s. British Airways is operating nine flights daily, of which eight are with 777s, and one is with 787s. BA’s fleet of 12 A380s is used on other American routes.
The two US-based carriers are JetBlue (twice-daily flights with Airbus A321 narrowbodies) and the giants American Airlines and Delta Air Lines. Delta is operating around two flights a day with its A330s, while American operates three flights daily with Boeing 787s and 777s. It is worth noting that nearby New York-Newark Liberty in New Jersey and London Gatwick also compete on the NYC/London route.
