Virgin Atlantic is planning to launch flights from Vancouver to London in time for the Olympic Games, and is adding capacity on flights to San Francisco.
The four times weekly service will start on May 24, 2012 and will initially be seasonal.
Edmond Rose, director of commercial and revenue planning, said under current plans the service will run until October 27, 2012.
“We’ve had lots of customers asking us to fly to Vancouver over the years, so we’re delighted to launch this new route in response to customer demand,” he added.
“The UK has the largest number of overseas visitors to British Columbia each year so it is a natural addition to our route network.”
Flights will depart from London Heathrow on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday at 1300, arriving into Vancouver at 1510.
From Vancouver, flights will leave at 1950 on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, arriving into Heathrow at 1345 the following day.
The route will be operated using an A340-300 aircraft in a two-class configuration: 34 Upper Class seats, 35 premium economy seats and 171 in economy.
In other news from Virgin, the airline has also announced it will expand on the London-San Francisco route, with the addition of three flights a week.
www.virginatlantic.com/