UK carrier Virgin Atlantic Airways is to inaugurate flights between London Heathrow and Vancouver during summer 2012. The airline will offer a four times weekly service between May 24, 2012 and October 27, 2012, increasing capacity between the UK and the gateway city to British Columbia by around ten per cent.
The airline expects to carry up to 40,000 passengers on the route during this five month period and will deliver around C$54 million in tourism revenues to the Vancouver market. It will use an Airbus A340-300 on the service, configured with 34 Upper Class, 35 Premium Economy and 171 Economy seats.
The Vancouver route will enable Virgin Atlantic to target the expanding tourist market. In 2010, over 700,000 people travelled from the UK to Canada, with around 70 per cent of these travelling during the peak five month period that Virgin Atlantic will serve the route. Tourist authorities forecast around 174,000 UK citizens to fly on the route between May and October 2012 with flights also offered by Air Canada, British Airways and Air Transat (in partnership with tour operator Canadian Affair).
Alongside the Canadian expansion, Virgin Atlantic is to also increase links between London and San Francisco increasing the frequency of its flights to the US West Coast city from a daily schedule to ten rotations per week from March 26, 2012. The additional service will enable the UK carrier to build on its already strong performance on the route and increase capacity for leisure passengers and the technological industries that travel between the UK and Silicon Valley.
“The North American market has always been at the core of our business. Our success here has been due to our investment in product innovation and our willingness to respond to customer demand,” said Steve Ridgway, Chief Executive Officer, Virgin Atlantic. “With almost 20,000 people flying from the UK to Canada each month in the peak season, the UK is the largest overseas market for passengers to British Columbia. Greater competition to both Vancouver and San Francisco will benefit passengers through improved choice and better value for money.”
Vancouver, British Columbia’s Pacific gateway city, is consistently acknowledged as having the best quality of life in North America, according to the Mercer Quality of Living Survey. Easily accessible from cosmopolitan Vancouver and the historic provincial capital of Victoria are some of the world’s best wildlife experiences, including bear and whale watching, as well as over 25,000 kilometres of coastline offering deserted beaches, pristine islands and majestic fjords and inlets. Further inland, visitors can explore the alpine resort of Whistler, the wineries of the lush Okanagan region and the spectacular beauty of the national and provincial parks of the Canadian Rockies. This shows just why the destination is so popular with tourists.
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