Delta and Virgin Atlantic next spring plan to add about 10,000 seats per week on transatlantic routes, including a 15 percent bump in capacity between London Heathrow and Delta's Boston and New York hubs.
On March 28, Delta will add a third daily round-trip between John F. Kennedy International Airport and Heathrow. It's Delta's first daylight transatlantic flight and will depart at 10:15 a.m. from JFK and at 10:30 a.m. from Heathrow. Virgin Atlantic already has five daily flights between JFK and Heathrow, including daylight service; thus, daily flights between the two joint business partners will total eight.
Additionally, Virgin Atlantic on March 29 will add three weekly flights between Los Angeles and Heathrow, bringing its total to 17 per week, and four weekly flights between Seattle and Heathrow for a total of 11 weekly flights.
Delta's return to London Gatwick Airport will begin May 21, with daily service from Boston, and Virgin Atlantic daily service between Gatwick and JFK will begin a day prior. Delta called Gatwick "the largest unserved European market from New York." Delta has not served Gatwick in about a decade, and none of the other U.S. carriers have service to the airport, though American Airlines' joint business partner British Airways does have JFK-Gatwick service.
Delta also will begin daily summer service to Manchester from Boston on May 21. Virgin Atlantic has daily service to Manchester from five other cities: Atlanta, New York, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Orlando.